From the end to the beginning
by RolyRolyPoly
Summary: An InuyashaToS. The emotional battle with Mithos has come to a decisive end the group splits up. Collette, Sheena and Zelos accompany Lloyd to destroy all exspheres, to find that they must assist another group in their quest for the battle to really end.
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone! My 2nd fic, and I'll have to say, it's kind of weird.

I have no idea where I got this from, but we'll see how it goes.

It's an Inuyasha/Tales of Symphonia crossover. Yeah, you read right. I know it's going to be weird though. Some spoilers.

If anyone wants pairings, just review them in.

Disclaimer: I do not own either Inuyasha or Tales of Symphonia. The characters are theirs.

Warning: If you are a geography freak, please, hesitate to comment things here. This fic doesn't focus on time and place much, but I will try to make sense... It takes place just at the end of Lloyd's group's journey.

**

* * *

From the end to the beginning  
**

* * *

"Sango, Miroku, back me up!"  
Inuyasha called back to his companions.  
"We're ready."  
Miroku replied, his knuckles turning white as he tightened the grip on his staff.  
"Inuyasha, the demon with the shard's in the middle!"  
Kagome shouted from the back of the group. They had just encountered the strangest demon. The demons looked exactly identical, and continued to multiply. It seemed that there was a long fight ahead of them. 

"What're we waiting for? Let's go!"  
Sango said impatiently, already running.  
"H-hey, wait for us!"  
Inuyasha shouted, starting to make his way to the demons, Miroku closely behind. Sango struck first, swinging the massive hiraikotsu at one of the demons. It swiftly dodged, flying over her.  
"Fast one, aren't we?"  
She muttered, attempting to strike again.  
"Keh, they can't dodge this!"  
Inuyasha cried, slicing at the demons.  
"Huh? What the?"  
Inuyasha could have sworn that he hit the demon, but he felt absolutely no resistance. He looked up at where the demon used to be, and saw nothing but dark smoke.

"So that's it, this was just a trick to scare us away. All of these demons are just illusions."  
Miroku explained, calmly walking directly at the illusions. He passed through one, and it disappeared.  
"Inuyasha, the shard, it's moving away!"  
Kagome shouted, catching up to the rest of the group.  
"Inuyasha, go chase it down!"  
Shippo said. Without a second thought, Inuyasha sheathed his weapon and broke into a run, passing easily through all the illusions. He ran for several minutes and eventually reached the demon. It was a small one-eyed runt, scurrying away with surprisingly quick speed. Inuyasha swiped at it with his claws and it squealed in pain before it dissolved into the air. Inuyasha noticed something shiny fall when the demon disappeared and picked it up.

"Inuyasha!"  
He heard Miroku call behind him. They caught up with him shortly after, and Inuyasha handed the object to Kagome.  
"Well isn't this a lucky find? A jewel shard that Naraku hasn't gotten his hands on yet! These are getting rare..."  
"That won't be a problem."  
Inuyasha replied,  
"We'll just kill him soon and we'll have the full shikon jewel. We'll collect the odd ones in ordinary demons first though."  
"Easier said than done, I suppose..."  
Miroku replied.

"Well anyways, that was disappointing. I was expecting a good fight..."  
Sango sighed.  
"Save your energy, there'll be lots of fighting later."  
Inuyasha replied, already beginning to walk. The group followed his lead, having light conversations. When Inuyasha suddenly stopped, they all bumped into him.  
"Hey, what gives?"  
Kagome asked.

"The sky's weird..."  
Inuyasha replied. The group looked up as well. They could see bits of the sky between branches and leaves of the thick forest.  
"It's... Purple?"  
Sango asked.  
"This is strange. Do you think Naraku could be doing this?"

"I doubt it... What would this achieve?"  
Miroku said.  
"What are we going to do about this?"  
Kagome asked.  
"Keh, nothing! It's probably just a weird sunset or something..."

Inuyasha replied.  
Speaking of sunset, let's just stay here for tonight."  
After their long day of walking, the rest of the group gladly agreed, each member doing their own thing to prepare dinner. Kagome got started on a fire while Sango, Miroku and Inuyasha went to collect additional wood. Shippo and Kirara went off to get water from a nearby stream. When the group reunited, they sat around a blazing fire boiling water for Kagome's instant noodles. After their meal, they just sat and talked with each other. Inuyasha couldn't keep his eyes off the sky, which was now a very dark and deep shade of purple.

'No, this can't be Naraku's work.'  
He thought.  
'Ahh whatever. If something bad happens, I'll go and take care of it.'  
He yawned, lying down on the soft dirt. The others did the same, one by one falling asleep.

A few moments after everyone was sound asleep, Inuyasha woke up, feeling the ground shake beneath him. His ears could pick up the sound of things falling in the distance. He pulled himself up, brushing the sleep from his eyes. He could see that none of his friends felt it.  
'Of course they don't, they don't have hearing like a half-demon...'

Inuyasha reminded himself. He silently jumped on the top branch of a tall tree, taking a good look around. The sky still had its strange color, but he couldn't see anything falling.  
'Really, what the hell is going on today?'  
He asked himself, jumping back down.

* * *

"I will continue to choose this path...!"  
and with those words, the fight was over. A spiky brown haired teenager in a red outfit sheathed his twin blades.  
"You... You could've lived with us in our world!" He whispered. "Damn it..."  
His friends were just behind him, all with grave expressions. A few were crying. The fight that had just taken place was their hardest. Not only because their enemy was one of the most powerful beings, but also because he was once their friend. 

His name was Mithos; an ancient hero who had lost his mind after the death of his beloved sister during the great Kahrlan war.

The Kahrlan war was long and terrible. The giant Kahrlan tree, the source used by both sides provided mana; the essence of life. Magitechnology was created at this time and consumed large amounts of mana. After a millenia, the tree withered and died. In its place, Martel, the sister of Mithos was sacrificed. The war had ended with Mithos separating the two sides into two different worlds on different dimensions. After, he had made an organization called cruxis, where all the angels were gathered. He had changed his appearance to make him look older. He named himself Yggdrasil. For the purpose of the revival of Martel, he had imposed the "Chosen" system on the two worlds. With the limited amount of mana in the world, it was impossible to have both worlds in a good state so instead, one side had most of the mana. Every few years, the "Chosen" from the world with less mana goes on a quest to reverse the process so their side has the mana. Few people knew this however, that another world even existed. After centuries, Tethe'alla forgot about Sylvarant and Sylvarant forgot about Tethe'alla.

For a simple citizen from either worlds, the chosen represented salvation. They thought that all the chosen had to do was to release the seals of all the elements and climb the massive "Tower of Salvation," the tower that supposedly reached to the heavens. Only part of this was true. The secret that most chosens kept, was the fact that they had to die in order to "Save the land." It wasn't a sacrifice to the land either; it was a sacrifice to Mithos. In order to revive Martel, he needed to find a suitable body to put the soul Mithos had collected in. The chosen was merely supposed to be a a vessel for Martel.

"Lloyd..."  
A blond haired girl in a light, white and blue robe stepped behind the brown haired boy. Her name was Collette, the chosen of Sylvarant. She tried to console her friend, but she was just as sad. Her friends once said that her smiles could heal the deepest of wounds, but this wound was just too deep. The group never had to kill someone that was their friend.

Lloyd nodded, knowing that there were still things to be done.. He drew his two blades, one made of fire and one made of ice. The material blades. They were the split form of the eternal sword. Magically merging together to create the deep purple two-handed double edged sword, Lloyd gripped the handle. He silently wished upon it to return him and his friends back to the earth. They were currently on a planet called Dherris-Kharlan, a planet made of pure mana. It was supposed to be Mithos's last hiding spot. It had once been the home of the elves. It had always existed close to the earth. Just a bit further than the moon. The tower of salvation was really something that projected what the sky would have looked like. Blue. The tower of Salvation collapsed however; its rubble flattened houses, crushed people, and some large pieces felt like earthquakes. When the dust settled, everyone saw Dherris Kharlan. It's misty purple glow.

Lloyd, Collette and his friends landed softly on the ground.

"...Restore the true form of the two worlds!"  
Lloyd commanded the eternal sword. Instantly, things went into motion.

* * *

Inuyasha awoke slowly from his tree branch, stretching and yawning. As usual, he was the first to rise. Remembering the previous night, he looked back up into the sky.  
'Hey, it's back to normal.That's weird...' 

"Morning, Inuyasha."  
Called a voice from below.  
"Morning Sango..."

He replied absentmindedly. She was usually the second one up. Then Miroku, Kagome and Shippo a while later. It was almost like a routine to wait for their friends to awaken.

"The sky's back to normal... That's a relief."  
She said.  
"I guess it was just one of those weird days."

"Yeah..."  
Inuyasha replied.

* * *

"It's finally done..." 

Lloyd said with a weak, exhausted smile. The worlds were together again, and a new tree of mana was born. It was just a seedling that had sprouted at the moment, but Martel, revived along with the tree had told them as long as they provided the seed with love and admiration, it would grow into a great tree that would provide unlimited mana. Because of the worlds merging, there was no longer enough mana for magitechnology anymore until the tree grew.

There was eight in his group, himself included; Collette Brunel, the former know as the the chosen of Sylvarant, Sheena Fujibayashi, a ninja from the town of Mizuho, Professor Raine Sage, Lloyd's former teacher, Genis Sage, Lloyd's best friend and Raine's younger brother, Zelos Wilder, formerly known as the chosen of Tethe'alla, Regal Bryant, the president of a company which now had to be remade because of the shortage of mana, Presea Combatir, a girl who was part of an experiment which had cost her her emotions years from her life. When Lloyd spoke of another quest after dealing with Mithos, Collette gladly agreed to assist him. It was a quest to destroy all the expheres. Expheres were made by Mithos; it was a truly terrible thing.

Expheres were actually human lives. They were worked to near death, and were eventually turned into lifeless beings called expheres by Cruxis. People could use expheres to enhance their own powers much beyond their maximum capacities. Collette and Lloyd have special expheres, however, that are called cruxis crystals. They were used by humans and half elves to become angels. Every other member in Lloyd's group had a regular exphere helping them. When expheres are used the wrong way, or is just not compatible with the person using it, it makes them very sick, and eventually turns them into monsters that kills everything in their path. Some of Lloyd's friends had experienced losses of loved ones because of that. To prevent that from happening to any others, Lloyd had decided to go on the quest to destroy them.

* * *

A few days later...

* * *

"Okay, I'm ready."  
Lloyd said, flinging his bag over his shoulder. 

"Good, I have a surprise for you!"  
Collette replied cheerily.  
"What is it?"  
Lloyd asked, not being able to help but be a bit excited.  
"Come outside!"  
She said, opening the door. When Lloyd stepped outside, the group of the friends that unofficially 'disbanded' were waiting outside.  
"Hey guys! W-what're you all doing here?"  
Lloyd asked. He was happy to see them, however was caught slightly off guard.

"Heeeey, Lloyd my good buddy!"

A laid back, happy male voice said. It was Zelos. His long, deep red hair flowing as he walked over to his friend. He wore clothes that suited him. A white headband, a black shirt with a ornate pink vest with detached pink sleeves. He was a very lazy, fun loving guy. He loved women, and wanted nothing more than to have his title of being the chosen lifted. Being a chosen, he was a target of many, and his mother had died because of that. He masked all his sorrows and pain with happiness. He frequently joked around, and helped his friends get past the though times. He talks big most of the time, and gets on the nerves of his enemies. He wasn't just talk though, he was a great magic swordsman who had earned the respect of many. He gave Lloyd a friendly clap on the shoulder.

"We've decided to join up with you! To destroy all the expheres I mean."

"All of you?"  
Lloyd asked, his his face breaking into a wide grin. He loved being with his friends.

"I'm sorry, but no.

Another voice answered. It was another man called Regal. He was very muscular, wearing a very generic white shirt and green pants. He was really the president of Lazereno, a giant company on a fairly large island of Tethe'alla.  
"With the magitechnology gone, I must go back to my company and make the necessary changes. Presea has decided to stay as well."

He said. Presea was a twenty- eight year old who had lost sixteen years of her life to an exphere experiment. She was trapped in the form of an eight-year-old, and had just started growing normally again. She was just more mature than her body, which would eventually catch up. Despite her small body, she helped the group with a giant axe and strength that not even the males of the group possessed.

"Oh, that's too bad..."

Lloyd replied, sighing.  
"Yes, and Genis and I will have to stay as well."

A female said. She had silver hair, and wore white dress shirt with a decorative orange overcoat. She was a half-elf who was abandoned by a mother who had too weak a heart to protect her children from the cruel world, which discriminated against her kind. She grew up in Sylvarant, and she loved anything that looked ancient. She was a woman who loved to study things carefully. Her healing arts, her skills with her staff and her white magic was invaluable to the group.

"You too, professor?"  
Lloyd asked, slightly saddened.

"And Genis?"

Genis was a young boy. His intellect rivaled his sister's; he was very knowledgeable for his age. He also had silver hair and wore a blue tunic. He had a strange weapon of choice; a kendama. It was a ball on a stick; kind of like a flail. He must have been the most powerful magician in all of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla.

"Yes."  
Raine replied,  
"We have decided to go on our own journey. We want to try and help make it easier for the world to accept half-elves."

"Oh, that sounds great, but I'm going to miss you Professor, Genis..."  
He said, looking down.  
"Yeah, I'm going to miss you Lloyd."  
Genis said.  
"But maybe we'll meet again someday!"  
He added.  
"Yeah! So let's not say our goodbyes yet."  
Lloyd replied.  
"Yes."  
Raine said.  
"So that leaves us with Sheena and Zelos?"  
Lloyd asked.  
"Yeah."  
Sheena replied. She wore a navy blue shirt with a pink sash and black pants. She was a ninja from Mizuho who would eventually take over the role of chief. Without her card charms and summoning, the group would have failed to even reach Mithos. She was a beautiful girl that first saw Lloyd and his friends after her journey to Sylvarant from Tethe'alla, planning to assassinate the chosen Collette to save Tethe'alla from losing their mana. Her clumsiness made her fail, and later learned that the chosen of Sylvarant wasn't a bad person at all. She eventually joined up with them, for they really had no intention of letting Tethe'alla go into decline. Lloyd was an idealist, and his desire for the perfect world had been a great encouragement to everyone in the group.

"Don't worry, with the great Zelos on the job, the expheres are as good as gone."  
Zelos said, bursting with confidence as usual.

"Well, I guess this is where we all go our own ways."  
Lloyd said.  
"Good luck, everyone."

"And good luck to you Lloyd."  
Raine answered.

The group split, each going into a different direction.

"This is going to be fun! I just know it!"  
Collette said happily, in her usual great mood.  
"I just hope there's not too much trouble..."  
Lloyd replied.

* * *

Yeah, anyways, there's the first chapter. How was it? Please review! I know it's very confusing.

REVIEW! And also, I'm taking pairing requests.


	2. Chapter 2

Oh dear... Not many reviews hmm? That makes me sad. Anyways, I guess I'll go ahead and update.

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Chapter 2**

* * *

Three months later...

* * *

"You know, I'm getting sick of this..."  
Inuyasha said, irritated. The rest of the group agreed. They hadn't seen even a trace of Naraku or a shikon shard. The demon count seemed to have gone up, however.  
"Deja-vu..."  
Kagome replied. Indeed, this wasn't the first time something like this had happened.  
"I guess Naraku went into hiding. Again."  
Sango stated, sighing.  
"How about we just spend the night here?"  
She added.

"Fine..."  
Inuyasha replied,  
"Doesn't look like anythings going to happen tonight."

The group set their things down, going to carry out their usual tasks to set up camp.

* * *

"Man, there are more monsters than ever!"  
Lloyd said, slightly annoyed, hacking one down with relative ease.

"You know, we've only found and destroyed a few hundred expheres these past months. Don't you find that weird? When we were chasing Mithos, there were expheres on almost everyone! We've been to every town and city in Symphonia, and made sure we destroyed all of their exspheres. That was really too easy..."  
Sheena said.

"Yeah, I've figured that too."  
Lloyd replied.

"Ahh, don't worry about it. You know what we should really worry about though?"  
Zelos asked with a smile. It was a sarcastic smile that quickly disappeared and was replaced by a look of discontent.  
"My poor feet!"  
He said,  
"They're aching! Why can't we use the Rheiards again?"  
He asked, pointing at the small box that contained a shrunken version of the aircraft they had used during their journey.

"Oh suck it up Zelos!"  
Sheena replied, irritated.  
"We can't use the rheiards because the summon spirits aren't with us anymore! Because of the mana shortage, they're too busy just keeping the land from dying."

"Oh..."  
Zelos replied.  
"Well... We really need a better way of getting around."

"I could always carry you!"  
Collette offered with a giggle. After the cruxis crystal turned her into an angel, she could hear and see much better than most people and had strength that amazed many.

"Aha..."  
Zelos chuckled, slightly embarrassed.  
"It's alright my cute little Collette; very temping though. Perhaps you could make the same offer later when we go to bed; I'll let you be domina-"

"Zelos!"  
Sheena screamed, landing a hard blow on the back of Zelos' head.

"Ow! Hey! Don't be jealous Sheena! You'll get your turn I promi- Ow! Hey, come on, stop!"

Lloyd and Collette could only laugh at Zelos. Sheena's strength and temper wasn't something one should play around with either. After a few more beats, Zelos chose to remain quiet as they moved on.

"Anyways, I was thinking,"  
Lloyd said,  
"I think we need to move on to another continent. Honestly, I don't think there's anything left here."

"Another continent? We'll need a ship, right?"  
Sheena asked, apparently having calmed down.

"Yeah,"  
Lloyd replied.

"Hey, let's go to Meltokio and ask the king then. He should be more than happy to give us one."

Zelos said, recovering quickly.

"Meltokio? You sure?"  
Lloyd asked.  
"Of course! You know, I still have the rights as a chosen. They'll help us."

He said confidently.  
"We'll spend the night in my mansion instead of on these uncomfortable rocks! Meltokio's only a few miles from here, let's go!"  
He added, already walking.

* * *

Inuyasha looked sadly out at the water, the sun setting in the horizon. They had found a beach preferred to stay there than in the woods. Inuyasha sat at the water's edge, his friends preparing dinner quite a far distance away, skipping rocks idly, deep in thought.

"I'll bet he's thinking of Kikyo right now."  
Miroku said, keeping an eye on his hanyou friend.

"I'm surprised he hasn't broken down or anything."  
Sango said,  
"He seems pretty normal aside from the fact that he looks fairly sad once in a while. I don't know, I feel bad for him..."  
She added.

Kikyo's second body made of clay and bones had been broken. The last time they saw Naraku, he had said something about not needing her any longer now that he had other help.

Inuyasha sighed, smelling the cooked food. He stood up, brushing himself off, walking back to his friends. He had decided that it was best to move on. Kikyo was dead and there was absolutely nothing that he could do about it. She wanted him to go to hell along with her and at one time, Inuyasha would have done so. Now however, he didn't have the smallest desire to. He sat down to eat his dinner.

* * *

"Great, so I'll look for it in the water north of Meltokio tomorrow morning."  
Zelos said to the king of Tethe'alla, retreating to his mansion. He was very wealthy as the chosen, and had many shallow women following him around town because of that.

"Good news, we're setting out tomorrow!"  
Zelos announced to his friends.  
"Wow, this is so exciting!"  
Collette exclaimed.

"I actually doubt we'll find any expheres elsewhere, these are where the main cities and towns are. The place we're going to has only minor villages and such. It's covered in forests and jungles."  
Sheena said.  
"How do you know all this?"  
Lloyd asked, slightly amazed.

"Well, I've been sent on missions there. I have a friend there, Sango I think her name was. She's a demon slayer. The demon slayers were originally part of this continent. They were actually part of Mizuho, but when demons got unruly on that continent, people were sent there to make sure the demons didn't make it here. Over three-quarters of Mizuho were sent there. Only the strongest. Sango is the daughter of the leader of the demon slayers. We were only thirteen when we met, I'll bet she's grown a lot too."  
She explained.

"Ooh, a female friend of Sheena! I'll bet she's grown to be quite a beauty!"  
Zelos replied, getting excited as well.

"Doubt it,"  
Sheena said with a laugh,  
"She wasn't the prettiest sight the last time I remember her. She didn't look like a girl at all! Pretty short hair for a girl and she was such a tomboy."

"No!"  
Zelos said.  
"I must see for myself first. The great Zelos' instincts never lie! Not about women anyways!"

"Right... Anyways, let's get some rest! We've got an entire day of sailing to do tomorrow."  
Lloyd said, dragging Zelos into one of the rooms for two before he could... It was too late.

"Aw, come on! Can't I just spend one night in your room?"  
Zelos begged Sheena and Collette.

"I'm sorry Zelos, there's no room... There's only two beds..."  
Collette said. It sounded strangely honest.  
"Oh! That's easy to fix! I can just sleep in your bed..."  
"Zelos..."  
Sheena said menacingly.

"Oh, you don't mind sharing? Then of course! This sounds so fun! It'll be like a slumber party!"

The naïve Collette shouted,

"Sounds like great fun my sweet hunny."  
Zelos said.

"And Lloyd can share a bed with Sheena and..."

"**Absolutely not!"**

Sheena exclaimed, blushing slightly.  
"Come on Collette, let's just go to sleep."

Sheena pulled Collette into the room to explain what Zelos meant by sharing a bed. They were all roughly the same age, but Collette was the most 'innocent' and 'unknowing' one out of all of them.

"Oh man! I was so close!"  
Zelos whined.

"Zelos, you're so hopeless!"

Lloyd said. He was known to be a very dense guy, but even he understood Zelos' metaphors and jokes. He walked ahead in, laying comfortably on the soft bed. Zelos reluctantly followed moments later.

* * *

Yes, not much happened that chapter. So far, I've only gotten one review! Here's how it's going to work. Every pairing suggestion I get, I'll make more interactions between them. I will not listen to Yaoi and Yuri, and one other pairing. Please review! Or I'll have to stop this fic! I know it's not much a threat though... 


	3. Chapter 3

Seriously disappointed by the lack of reviews people. I'm ending this quick.

**

* * *

New Discoveries**

* * *

Inuyasha slowly opened his eyes, awakening from his sleep. He was leaning against a large rock, his friends scattered around the ashes which used to be the fire. He stretched, rubbing his eyes. It was a beautiful day, with not a cloud in the sky. He groggily made his way to the water and splashed water in his face. He sat down at the water's edge, looking out into the horizon.

'This isn't just some lake, we've made it to the ocean...'

Inuyasha thought. He nearly jumped when he heard a voice.

"Good morning, Inuyasha."  
He looked beside him, and he saw Sango; she was washing up too.  
"Oh, hey..."  
He replied. There was a long silence, filled only by the splashing of water. She sat down closely beside him, also staring out into the distance.  
"So, what were thinking so hard about last night?"  
She asked casually.

"Nothing special, just... Stuff..."

"I might be out of place to say this, but Inuyasha, I honestly think it was better that she had been put to rest."  
She said. He glanced at her and looked away again.

"You're right. You are out of place."  
He said, his tone bitter. Sango sighed, getting up to leave. Inuyasha grabbed her wrist,

"No, wait... I'm sorry, It's just..."  
Sango smiled, sitting back down. She tucked her loose hair behind her ears to get better hearing. It wasn't every day you heard Inuyasha apologize.

"It's just so hard to let go now; she was the only one that liked me for who I was."  
Inuyasha said, throwing another rock. He must've been talked for a good ten minutes. He'd never really talked this long before. Sango just silently listened, not taking her eyes off him.  
"Was."  
She had suddenly said.  
"In case you haven't noticed, we all accept you."

Inuyasha looked her in the eye for the first time in a while.  
"Even you?"  
He asked.  
"The demon slayer?"

"You know, the demon slayers don't particularly want to kill. We slay demons just because they're vile murderers. I know you're not really like that. Even when you transformed into your full demon form and killed every enemy around you, you felt guilty. You couldn't control yourself and it wasn't not your fault."  
It was her turn to look away.  
"I mean, how many people would take in someone like me? You could've killed me the very instant I attacked you, but you let me live. You even let me travel with you, saying it would be easier to find my brother. Your opinion didn't change even after I betrayed you. I know it sounds really corny, but Inuyasha, you gave me a second shot at life."  
She looked back up with a hint of a smile.  
"So Inuyasha, what I'm saying... Is that even though you're a half demon, you're a great person. You're not the filthy creature that people say you are. So be proud of yourself. Things have changed, you have friends now. Besides... Being all depressed about Kikyo is making Kagome sad too."

Inuyasha sighed deeply. He felt a bit better but...

"Kagome... I wish she'd just give me room to breathe sometimes... The slightest thing ticks her off. She pisses me off so much sometimes."

"I know, I know."  
She replied.  
"I guess she'll mature up sooner or later."

Inuyasha stood back up, his legs feeling a little stiff from all the sitting.  
"Umm... Well, thanks for listening."  
He said, walking back to the rest of the group.

"Welcome..."  
Sango replied. An apology and a thank-you from Inuyasha in the same hour. She was sure this day was just plain strange. She followed after him after a few moments.

* * *

"Ahh, this is great!"  
Colette exclaimed, leaning on the side of the boat. It wasn't too large; enough room for the four to walk around a bit.

"I can't believe they gave us a row boat..."  
Zelos said, unhappily rowing on one side. Lloyd was on the other side.

"Better than nothing, right?"  
Sheena said,  
"At this rate I think it'll only take us a few hours before we reach the shore."

"Only? It's been at least an hour, and I'm starting to get tired already!"  
Zelos whined.

"Oh! I can help if you're tired, Zelos."  
Colette said. She always had a way of shutting him up without meaning to.  
'Man,'  
He thought,  
'I can't let one of my hunnies worklike this...'  
"No, it's alright Colette. Just leave it to the great Zelos."  
He said, putting more effort into his rowing. Sheena shook her head disapprovingly.  
"Just shut up and row!"

* * *

Short chapter. Inuyasha and Sango pairing is winning by one so far. You can still review them in. I'm going a few more chapters. I really hope that you start reviewing people... 


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry I haven't updated in such a long time! My computer was down, but now it's fixed. By the way, I will not be updating my other fic (The X of love) Until I get some good reviews in, or until I finish this fic

* * *

**New Discoveries

* * *

**

"Hey, guys, we're finally here!"  
Sheena yelled back from the bow of the ship, squinting to see farther into the foggy distance. The land she saw had many hills, and was covered in lush, green forests. Just how she remembered it. She could hear Colette running, and a thud. Sheena turned to see Colette had tripped once again. Colette looked up, giving Sheena one of her 'I'm okay' smiles. Sheena chuckled, and put out a helping hand. Colette grabbed it, pulling herself up and dusting off her clothes. Colette was always the klutz of the group. A smile graced her soft features as she looked out into the distance.

"Wow, it's really beautiful!"  
She exclaimed, leaning over the railing of the boat.

"Hey, why'd we stop moving?"  
Sheena asked, looking over to where Zelos and Lloyd were rowing. They had stopped now, and seemed to be completely ready to leave the boat. Both of them had their packs slung their shoulders. They made their way to the bow, bringing Sheena and Colette's packs with them.

"Well, that's as far as we can go with this boat,"  
Lloyd explained.  
"The water's too shallow."

"Hey, don't tell me we're going to swim!"  
Sheena said angrily, flinging her pack over her shoulder.

"Sheena's right, what're we going to do about the rest of the way?"  
Lloyd asked, realizing that there were still at least two kilometers between them and dry land. Zelos sighed,

"Lloyd, you can be real stupid sometimes."  
He said,

"W-what?"  
Lloyd asked,

"We can fly over it, remember?"  
Colette said, bringing her small, shimmering, violet wings into existence. The transparent flapped gracefully behind her and gave a soft glow. Zelos had his bright orange wings out, and was already soaring through the clouds directly above the boat.

"Oh, that's right! I guess I'm not used to these…"  
Lloyd said, his rainbow wings materializing behind him. His wings were much larger than Zelos and Colette's and much stronger thanks to his special exphere. He jumped from the boat, his wings doing all the work from then on. He loved flying; he loved the feeling of soaring through the endless blue sky. He wished he could do it more often, but the group agreed not to fly in Sylvarant, for it might have caused panic among the people. He caught up to Zelos in no time high in the air. Colette had caught up moments after.

"Hey, forgetting something?"  
A voice called from the boat. The three looked down to see Sheena waving at them.

"Oh, Sheena, that's right, she doesn't have wings! What're we going to do?"  
Colette asked,

"Oh, I know exactly what we're going to do,"  
Zelos said with a mischievous grin. He took a sudden dive towards the boat to pick her up.

"Huh? H-hey! No!"  
Sheena said, narrowly dodging Zelos.

"Hey, what're you doing?"  
Zelos asked,

"No, what are YOU doing?"  
Sheena snapped,  
"No way I'm letting you carry me, you perv! Lloyd!"  
She called, and Lloyd, chuckling, hovered over the boat. Sheena gave Zelos a headshake as she took Lloyd's hand, and took off with him. Zelos gave a great sigh, shaking his head as well. He followed along with Colette.

Lloyd was careful not to drop Sheena into the ocean, but he was having a great time as well. He was going at a fairly high speed straight towards the land. His wings didn't have to flap very much; they were strong, and one flap let Lloyd glide for at least five seconds before he had to flap again. Approaching the beach, Lloyd dived lower and lower until he was about a foot over the ground. There, Sheena let go of his hand, and rolled forward in a somersault, getting to her feet gracefully and unhurt. Lloyd glided straight up to decrease his speed, and floated down next to Sheena. Colette and Zelos arrived some time after. Dusting themselves off, and checking their packs one last time, they set off on foot.

* * *

Inuyasha and his friends wandered through the forest once again, abandoning their beach camp that morning. They currently had about 6 shards and some low class demons still had a few shards. The rest were kept Naraku, and a confrontation with him to retrieve them was getting more inevitable every day. None of them even knew where he was hiding, what his weakness was, or how many shards he really held. There was going to be a hard fight somewhere in the near future...

* * *

**Hours later...**

* * *

"Wow, there's so much forest here..."  
Colette said, seeing nothing but trees, trees, and more trees. Rays of light that shone through the thin leaves cast a warm, emerald shadow. Everything seemed quiet and peaceful in the land. The group of friends walked in silence, taking in the beautiful scenery. It was getting late however, and sky was beginning to dim. 

"Hey, I don't think we're going to make it to a village today."  
Lloyd said, sighing.

"Yeah, we'll go ask for directions tomorrow. Let's just spend the night in the woods tonight."  
Sheena suggested. The rest of the group agreed, and dropped their heavy bags, stretching and yawning. It was Lloyd's turn to make dinner that night. He decided on something simple; sandwiches. Fishing out some bread from his bag, he put some meat on each of the four sandwiches. Zelos spread the blankets out, and lied down in one, resting a bit before dinner. Colette did the same, and the two had some light conversation. Sheena had volunteered to go get firewood. She insisted that the wood in the area wasn't good for burning, and had to go back the way they came to find "better wood."

* * *

Inuyasha sat at the edge of a cliff, looking over the many trees below. He could see some people down below, setting up camp, just as his friends were doing. Paying no attention to them, Inuyasha sighed deeply, lying down on the cold, hard dirt. He couldn't help but feel depressed; everything he thought about eventually led to her. Parting with her the first time was bad enough, but a second time just caused too much pain. He couldn't believe how fast it happened; the group had finally found Naraku a few days ago, and he destroyed her body piece by piece in front of them. It was the worst feeling a person could have. Clenching a fist, he slammed it on the ground, sitting back up.  
'Damn you, Naraku! I swear you'll pay for this...'  
He thought indignantly.

* * *

Sheena jumped from tree to tree, practicing her moves. Her friends used to call her an acrobat because of her nimbleness. Her crimson red eyes surveyed the forest from the top of a tall tree, and found that they had set camp right next to a cliff. She could see a fire on the top, and a red clothed person sitting at the edge.  
'Travellers… Just like us...'  
She thought, decidingto leave them alone. She jumped off the branch without even shaking it, and landed on the ground safely.  
"Now, for that firewood..."  
She said to herself.

* * *

Yes, short chapter, I know. Review! 


	5. Chapter 5

Here's another chapter, review! Please!

**

* * *

New Discoveries**

* * *

"I really don't like what's going on here..."  
Inuyasha said with discontent, looking from side to side while walking.  
"Naraku must be planning something, we should have at least found some kind of trace of him by now."

"This is quite unsettling..."  
Miroku replied, twirling his staff out of pure boredom.  
"There hasn't even been a single demon in sight, it's like they all disappeared with him this time."

"I'm worried…"  
Kagome said, wheeling her bike.  
"He's probably going to be a lot stronger than before the next time we meet."

Barring his sharp fangs, he replied,

"Damn that bastard to hell... He's going to pay..."

It sounded like a general statement; however the rest of the group knew that he was speaking of Kikyo. He had been very moody since her death. He was quick to anger, and frequently moped around. His talk with Sango had lifted his spirits slightly, but he just couldn't help it; the emptiness in his heart was unbearable. Though it was an artificial clay body, it had still contained her soul and was in her image. Discreetly stealing a glance at Kagome, he realized that now, he wanted to protect her more than ever. It did sound heartless; however she was the only bit of Kikyo left on the face of the earth. He didn't want to lose the only thing that reminded him of his past love. All that his mind could focus on was to avenge Kikyo and destroy Naraku. Suddenly jerked out of his thoughts, Inuyasha realized that the trail in the forest had ended, leading into a small town between a U-shaped mountain. With sighs of relief, the group started moving in a matter of seconds. In the least, they wouldn't have to sleep in the woods.

* * *

Lloyd and his friends traveled quietly through the forest, having small conversations.

"You know, there's not as much mana in this part of the land."  
Zelos said,  
"It feels harder to use magic and stuff, you know?"

"Yeah, the forest isn't very lively like it is back home either, it's dark almost all the time under all these trees."  
Lloyd replied, he heard Zelos chuckle, and say something about how he liked the dark.

"It's always been like that around here, but it should be getting better soon."  
Sheena said, keeping a close eye around her surroundings as usual. She was always cautious, but she always ended up doing something clumsy.

"Hey, look! It's an opening!"  
Colette said, stepping out from the barrier of trees into a clearing with a wide river. It was well into the afternoon; much brighter than it was in the forest.

"I'm beginning to think it was a waste of time coming here,"  
Zelos sighed,  
"We haven't found a single exphere anywhere, and I'm already tired of these dark, creepy forests. It's kind of depressing."

The others agreed silently. Some moments after the silence, Sheena was the first to speak,  
"Well Lloyd, since you're the 'leader' of this group, what do you say? Keep going, or go back? I don't think it'll take us too long, and I really would like to see the demon slayers again…"

After a brief moment of thought, the red clad teen answered,  
"Well, we'll see how things go by the time we reach the demon slayers' village. If we don't find a single exsphere, we'll go back."

Sheena thanked her friend with a warm smile.

"Sheena, what are these demon slayers like? Are they nice people?"  
Asked Colette. Her look of curiosity always got an answer if there was one.

"Yeah, they may be professional demon slayers, but they've all got kind hearts. They should take us in with open arms."  
Sheena replied.  
"But like I said, only the strongest of Mizuho were sent, so be respectful!"

"Okay!"  
The other three replied.

* * *

"Wow, this place is huge!"  
A small excited fox demon said, taking a look around at the walls of the city which was almost surrounded by mountains.

"It indeed is bigger than what we expected."  
Miroku said, also taking a look around. It looked much larger now that they were up close.  
"I've never seen so many women in one place!"  
The monk finally said. The group turned to see that there were many women weaving through the streets, greeting each other brightly as they went about their business. There weren't nearly as many men, and before anyone could stop him, Miroku went over to them. After about two or three women who were either married or not interested, Miroku eventually saw a woman with a natural, silvery shoulder-length hair walking by. Her soft features attracted the monk,

"Excuse me,"  
Miroku always started off nice and sincere. The woman stopped, looking kindly at Miroku.

"Yes?"  
Her voice was soft as well.

"Would you do me the honor of bearing my children?"  
He asked, and in quick response, he received a hand mark on his left cheek. Pairs of surprised eyes belonging to people passing by and to Miroku's friends were focused on the woman. Feeling absolutely no shame, she began to speak,

"What kind of question is that? You seem like a well educated man; you should have more respect for people, mainly women. I assume you do more than just _ask _women, am I right?"

The monk had nothing to say; he was speechless.

"Heh, sounds like somebody we know."  
Said a child right behind the woman. He, too, had naturally silver hair. Shaking her head, the woman turned back to Miroku.

"Well, I guess that will do. I'm in a hurry to find someone, excuse me."  
And with that, she disappeared with the boy into the crowded streets. Turning back, Miroku saw that his friends were all staring at him, unimpressed. Chuckling and stroking his cheek, he returned to them,  
"Well, that was a strange experience."  
He said, and started walking over to the largest building there was so he could go in and 'exorcise' the demon inside of it.

* * *

"Demon seal!"  
Sheena's voice rang through the forest, with the sound of a crack. Lloyd and his friends had encountered their first demon. Sheena's attack had swept it off it's feet, and blown it back about ten feet. Using the opportunity, Lloyd and Zelos jumped at it, stabbing while Colette threw one of her chakrams at it. The demon, with a final squeal of pain, dissolved into the air. Sheathing his twin blades, Lloyd stretched, yawning.

"Man that was too easy!"  
He said. Zelos was the next to speak,  
"I thought they were supposed to be strong, that was hardly a challenge!"

"Yeah, I guess that one wasn't too tough."  
Sheena replied.  
"But they're the low-class demons. The ones we should be afraid of are the ones that take human form. We have to be careful. With a nod, they continued on their trip to the demon slayer's villiage.

Sorry it took so long. Please review, please.


	6. Chapter 6

The lack of reviews encourage writer's block. Really.

**

* * *

New Discoveries**

* * *

A dirt path led out of the large village Inuyasha and his friends spent the night, very comfortably, in. The group was on the move again as always, in no particular hurry. Their treading was light; the heaviest object they had being Kagome's bike. As they left their marks on the path, their monk friend sighed dreamily.

"Ahh, that woman truly was a beauty. Her features were just so perfect..."  
He said, obviously not noticing that the woman he proposed to was directly behind him, wielding a rather large weapon. How easy it would have been just to have his head at that moment, but no. Sango was a mature girl. She can keep things in... Sometimes… She did catch a glimpse of the woman Miroku spoke of the previous day, Sango had to admit, she wasn't a woman a man could ignore easily. Deciding to forgive him that once, she unintentionally bore holes into the back of Miroku's head with her icy glare; she found it hard to suppress her anger for an unknown reason with the monk. Shaking her head disapprovingly, she continued on down the path. Looking over at her other friends, Sango could see Inuyasha wasn't interested at all in what Miroku had to say. She smiled at this; Inuyasha was stubborn about everything, even women. It was the one thing that Sango envied about Kagome though; Inuyasha was a fairly devoted guy. She had absolutely no idea what went on in his enigmatic expressions, but at least he wasn't so open on who he found attractive and such. Looking over at Kagome, Sango noticed that she nodded with a smile to everything Miroku had to say about the woman. It seemed that Kagome didn't mind a lot of things, as long as it wasn't Inuyasha was the "criminal." She knew it wasn't any of her business, yet she wasn't very content with the number of times that her best friend used the somewhat cruel charm of the rosaries on Inuyasha for childish reasons. It always touched a nerve, but she didn't dare say anything. She believed in giving people their own space, and she wasn't prepared on intruding on Kagome's "methods" of affection, no matter how bad it was. Inuyasha hadn't done anything, so she decided to keep quiet until he did.

"And she had the silkiest hair I've ever seen! It was like..."

"What you're forgetting to mention..."  
Inuyasha interrupted suddenly,  
"Is that she smacked you in the face. She obviously wasn't interested, so shut up about it already!"

"Oh, what's this?"  
A familiar, perverted smirk made its way across the monk's face.  
"You didn't find yourself attracted at all to her, Inuyasha?"

Sango wondered how Inuyasha would respond to this question. With the eyes of a curious child, she scanned the hanyou's face. Would he blush and change the subject? Would he give an answer after glancing at Kagome first? She could tell that Kagome was also intently waiting for the answer. It came quickly, and didn't seem like much of a deal to him. Without a second thought, Inuyasha answered very casually with a shrug,  
"She was actually kind of scary. Dominant, I guess? Not my type."

The simple answer was enough to silence Miroku, and wipe the smirk off his face as well, killing two birds with one stone. In conjunction to that, Inuyasha added,

"Hey, let's eat now, I'm hungry."  
And he stepped off the pathway, sitting down on the grass without even caring what the others would say. After a second of the group staring at their unofficial leader, they followed his example, choosing a nice spot nearby to eat one of Kagome's packed lunches. Sango choked down a giggle,

'He can be pretty cute sometimes too...'  
She thought.

* * *

Miles away, the small group of four continued their journey through a thicker area of the vast forests, led by the summoner Sheena. The loose ends of her long, silk, pink ribbon that she wore as a belt waved gently to her friends behind her in rhythm to her graceful steps. Her pace was quick; her excitement grew every step she took. Their destination was less than a mile away. A few moments of silent anticipation was broken by Sheena.

"There it is!"  
Her sudden outburst surprised her friends, but they all lined up beside her to see the village for themselves. Under the small hill they were on, there was a large square wall of sharpened wooden pillars.

"That's all the defense they have? A bunch of sharp wooden sticks?"  
Zelos scoffed, though the wall of wood was very large in size, about as tall as ten times that of his own height.

"Hey, watch what you're saying!"  
Burst Sheena,  
"The wall of the demon slayer village is special. The logs burrow deep into the ground, and on the bottom of each of them, there is a charm carved into it; one that was designed to protect themselves against demons."

"Like a barrier?"  
Lloyd asked, his excitement also building.

"Not really, Demons can still fly over the walls.  
Sheena explained, as she hopped down a small, steep ledge. Her friends followed.

"Then what's the point of having them?"  
Colette asked,

"Well, all it does is limit the numbers of demons that can invade the village at a time. If there was a big attack, they would take on the airborne ones first, and then open the gates to finish the rest off. Mizuho used to have walls like these when our lands were also infested with demons. Simple I guess, but it works."

"These demon slayers were really smart, weren't they?"  
Lloyd said; he couldn't even dream of something as 'clever and brilliant' as this. His idea of defending would be to pick up a sword, and take the demons head on; something that obviously wouldn't have worked.

As the group approached the gates of the village, Sheena felt more and more uncomfortable.  
'Those walls, I can't touch them...'  
Very casually, Sheena called her friend,  
"Hey, Colette, can you fly over the gate and open it from inside?"

The smiling blonde haired girl gave a nod,  
"Of course!"  
And she went straight to it; her wings appearing at her back. She jumped, and her wings took her the rest of the way, over the gate and inside of the city.

The other three waited outside for their friend with much anticipation. A few moments had passed since Colette had gone in, and they heard her clumsy landing, caused by retracting her wings too early. Dusting herself, she giggled, and yelled over the wall,  
"Haha, I'm okay, I was just clums-"  
She froze on the spot; numbed by the sight of the state the village was in. The rust colored blood was everywhere, the houses crushed, but worst of all, round lumps that was above ground level. There were so many of them, and each had bloodstained weapons on top of them. Colette backed away with scared eyes; she definitely wasn't prepared for this.  
"Colette? What's going on? Open the door for us!"  
She heard Lloyd, Zelos and Sheena calling her name. Looking up, she could see a rope that held the gate in place. If she could just reach it... She couldn't, however. Truth be told, she was frightened, even scared. The fear paralyzed her; she could feel beads of sweat forming on her face and neck, her limbs shaking. There was a piercing scream; it took her a moment to realize that it was her that was screaming. The village scared her; the bloody masses of demon carcasses, the graves, everything. It was worse than being inside the Tower of Salvation with the floating coffins.

The heads of Lloyd, Sheena and Zelos snapped up from their conversations to the tops of the wall.  
"Colette!"  
They all exclaimed at precisely the same time, Lloyd and Zelos using their own wings to make their way over the wall as well, leaving a very hesitant Sheena. She knew she had to go inside to see if Colette was alright, and to investigate what exactly it was that made her scream. Lloyd and Zelos were completely out of sight now, and she could hear muffled voices behind the gate. She backed away, and bent down, prepared to make the high jump over the wall. After a few short breaths to get the adrenaline running, she took a few long strides, sprinting towards the wall before she made her jump.

'I can do this!'  
She kept repeating it over and over in her head; and indeed, she was very far up the wall.  
'Almost... There...'

She had finally reached the top, and gasped. She had caught a glimpse of the bloody, ruined village. Her focus was destroyed, and she gasped. In the moment of her distraction, she didn't realize that her leg had gotten dangerously close one of the sharp logs. By the time she realized, however, the damage was done. She felt the sharp point dig into her shin, her thin pants tearing as well as her flesh. Before the wound could bleed, there were blue sparks around the walls, and her leg, and with a small, pained squeal from Sheena, an unseen force threw her away from the village with great speed. Sheena's reflexes kicked in, and she caught herself before she could hit the ground. Widening her legs to make a wider base, she landed feet first, and skidded back.  
"Ooow..."  
She hissed, clutching at her bleeding leg. She was now about fifty meters from the gates of the village.  
'Damn it, that stupid wall...'

She thought, applying some herbs to the cut, and wrapping it up quickly and skillfully. She walked over back to the gate, and Zelos flew over to check on her. Even Zelos was sobered by the sight of the village.

"Hey, Sheena, what happened?"  
He asked, softly landing on the dirt. Sheena came up with a lame, quick response.

"N-nothing! I-I tried to climb the wall and fell."  
Zelos nodded,  
"Oh, okay. You should have waited for us; Lloyd's going to open the gate for us now. But... Sheena, the village, it's..."  
The gates swung open as he said this, and the village was in full view. The shaky Colette picked herself up, and rushed back to join Zelos and Sheena outside of the gates. She turned away from the village, unable to look at it for any longer. Lloyd sheathed his swords which he used to slice the ropes holding the gate closed, and landed beside Colette, putting an arm around her to comfort her. Sheena hugged the girl from behind; she was so shaken up that she was sobbing quietly.

"Shh, Colette, it's okay..."  
Zelos made his way to the opposite side of Lloyd, and took Colette's hand; she was shivering, and covered with goose bumps.  
"I-it's t-terrible!"  
Collette sobbed, wiping at her tears.

"I'm sorry Colette, I'm sorry I asked you to go alone, I-I'm sorry I brought you here..."

Sheena had tears forming in her eyes; she was struggling to keep them from falling. She had known the people in the village when she was a child, and even had a few friends there. Their search of the remaining exspheres in this part of the land was proving to be a very bad one; they hadn't found any, and the only thing they had to look forward to was the village. Even that was gone now, coming here seemed pointless...

* * *

Alright, so there's another chapter. Review please. 


	7. Chapter 7

Thanks for the reviews, the **two** of you.

**New Discoveries**

"It's not here... Sango's weapon isn't here."  
Sheena carefully looked at the weapons placed on top of each grave. She was knelt before them, paying her respects to the fallen slayers. Lloyd, Zelos and Colette did the same. The lumps protruding from the surface of the ground along with the stench of demon carcasses still gave them the chills, but they still figured that they should at least examine the village before they went off.

"Sango? You mean your friend?"  
Said Colette. She was quite shaken up, but with her friends' help, she was able to calm down relatively quickly.

"Yeah,"  
Sheena replied, scanning the graves again.  
"She didn't use common weapons like these, it was much different. The weapon itself was bigger than her."

"Wow..."  
Lloyd said, he stood up, brushing the dirt off his pants.  
"I don't think there's anything like that here. Swords, bows, knives, chains..."

Sheena just shook her head, standing up as well. Zelos and Colette did the same soon after. After another look around the ruins, the group silently made their way out of the village silently. They stopped at the gates, each of them looking somewhere different. A few minutes of silence passed, and Sheena finally broke it.

"Guys, I... I know this is selfish..."  
She said, looking around at the faces of her friends.  
"But I think I'll have to part ways with you here."  
She finally said after the long pause.

"W-what? Why?"  
Lloyd asked,  
"No Sheena, it's dangerous to go off on your own..."  
Colette said, taking Sheena's arm.

"No, I have to do this. There's still a chance that she's alive, and I can't go back knowing that..."  
She couldn't meet the eyes of any of them.  
"I-I have to find her. Find out what happened to the village."

"Sheena, you don't have to go alone, you know... We'll go with-"

"No."  
Sheena cut Lloyd off.  
"No Lloyd. You have your own thing to do right? You were going to destroy all the remaining expheres. I want you to go on with that."

Another silence fell upon them, the wind was getting chillier now; the sun slowly sinking under the line of the tall trees.

"Lloyd can go with Colette for the exspheres, and I'll stay with my hunnie."  
Zelos finally said. Sheena quickly shook her head,  
"N-no! Zelos, no. I-I have to do this alone, you can't come with me, I can't-"  
"Alright, alright!"  
Zelos interrupted Sheena's stammering.  
"I can take a hint..."  
He said, sighing.

"This is all so sudden... But if it's what you want..."  
Lloyd said, stepping closer to Sheena.  
"Well... um... I guess this is goodbye for now..."  
He awkwardly held out his hand for a handshake, but Sheena shook her head, brushing it away as she threw her arms around him.  
"Idiot..."  
She whispered tearfully as Lloyd also put his arms around her as well. They split after a few moments; Sheena briskly brushed the tears away.

"Traveling with you has been fun. I don't know which will happen first, but please find me after all the exspheres are gone; I'll be looking for you as soon as I find Sango."

"Sheena..."  
Colette said, sniffing. She hugged Sheena warmly.  
"Promise me you'll be careful..."

"You too..."  
Sheena replied with a sad smile.

"Promise..."  
They both said simultaneously. They giggled softly.

"Hey, Lloyd, Colette. Can I have a word in private with Sheena? You two go on ahead, I'll catch up."

Zelos said. The two nodded, and they gave a final wave to Sheena before they brought out their wings and took flight. Sheena was still waving even though they were out of view. She turned then her attention to Zelos.

"Hey, what is that you want to say to... mph!"  
Sheena made a surprised sound. In a split second, Zelos had pulled her into a tight embrace, his lips against hers. Before she could react, he broke away, but still held onto her. His clear, blue eyes gazed at her brown ones. Feeling the blood rushing to her face, she stammered,  
"Z-zelos!"  
She saw that his face was entirely serious now; his perverted, playful personality was hidden completely.

"Hey, I don't know why I can't go with you, but you have to live to see me another day, alright?"  
He said, a grin on his face.  
"My voluptuous hunnie..."

He added, Sheena smiled as well and blushed, hitting him playfully on the shoulder.

"Stupid chosen..."  
She leaned up and returned his kiss; this one lasted longer than the last. When they finally broke, Sheena rested her head on his shoulder.

"You be careful too, okay? And listen to Lloyd!"  
She said, releasing him. Zelos backed away step by step; his wings appearing.

"Relax, I will. You be careful, okay?"  
He said as he lifted off the ground. He and Sheena waved to each other one final time before Zelos flew quickly to catch up with Colette and Lloyd. Sheena only stayed in her spot for a brief moment to brush away her tears. She now had to find her childhood friend. She performed a few hand motions, and took out a card, raising it above her head. The blank card suddenly started filling up with letters. When the last letter was on the card, the seal broke, and there was a bright flash of light; light from which Sheena emerged, unfazed. She began walking, gradually gaining speed. Within moments, she was sprinting, taking giant leaps into the tops of the trees, and tore through the forest at a speed so great, that she was only a pinkish purple blur to the eye.

Yes, short, I know. Review!


	8. Chapter 8

Just review.

**

* * *

New Discoveries**

* * *

It was late afternoon, the first fraction of the sun was now blocked by the horizon. A certain red clad hanyou sat grumpily watching this unusually quiet and beautiful sight. Not even the sunset could lift his spirits, however. The group had split again, courtesy of Kagome. One of her dreaded "tests" again. Of course, there was an argument, however the outcome never was different. Inuyasha hitting the ground, Kagome stomping off angrily. He couldn't deny that it still made him angry, but truthfully, he had gotten used to the treatment he would get from her. Sango had gone to her old hometown to pay her respects, and make some minor repairs to her weapon. There was the thought of him following Sango, since he had nothing better to do... But there would be no solid reason as to why he would. Kirara was with her, and she could take care of herself. He decided to stay in the village that guarded the well to the future, the village of the old miko Kaede. The hanyou sat at the well, fully aware of the fact that the group was to meet there in a week. It was just a habit to sit there day and night, just waiting. Miroku opted to wander off to other villages, no doubt practicing his lecherous ways. Sango was clearly annoyed by this, but Inuyasha just felt that it wasn't his place to stop him. If Sango didn't want him to so much, he figured that she could stop him herself. She certainly had the strength to, but again, she didn't. A sigh escaped Inuyasha's lips, growing frustrated with his companions. Didn't they care that Naraku was still alive and well, doing anything as he pleases, bringing suffering to countless people and during all that growing stronger? Although he would rather die than admit it, the journey had become much more than his initial intention; to become a full blooded demon. As it stood, he would rather stay a hanyou if Naraku could be stopped. He did wonder, though; before he murdered Kikyo, Naraku had said that he had "other" help. What was the meaning in that? Did Naraku plan another one of his schemes? Inuyasha truly grew tired of it all. He wanted and needed to put an end to Naraku's treachery. Inuyasha knew his stubborn heart would never fail him; that he'd never give up. Naraku and all evil intentions in the land would be purged someday, and he vowed that he would be the one to deliver the final blow.

* * *

The sun was half gone now, the sky a dark orange shade. Kirara landed within the walls, bending down to let Sango down. She looked around the ruined village; a faint smile on her lips.  
'I'm home...'  
She thought, taking a walk over to the graves that were in the corner of the village. Kneeling down, she gave a short prayer, and noticed fresh yellow flowers on each of the graves. Reaching down, she picked one of them up.  
'This couldn't have been picked longer than a day ago...'

She stood back up, taking a look around. Since the dirt was poor in the village, there weren't any visible footprints, and the gate had been properly shut.  
"Who could it have been?"  
She muttered. She silently thanked whoever paid their respects to the former inhabitants of the village. At least someone besides her remembered them.

* * *

It was much quieter now with just Lloyd, Colette and Zelos left; they walked silently through the forest now, much slower in pace. The darkness was closing in now, the trees casting dark shadows.  
"It's dark, I think it's safe now. Let's just get to the nearest village for tonight."  
Zelos said, his glow of his bright orange wings illuminating their dark surroundings. Nodding, Lloyd and Colette followed Zelos' example, and used their wings to take off into the night sky. It was a good thing they did too; the nearest village was miles away from where they just were.

* * *

Sheena entered a small village, a few hours away from the slayers village. There were a few people around, doing their last chores before they turned in for the night. She made her way to a small house.  
'This place is relatively close to the village, maybe they know something...'

There was a man fueling a fire for their home in a small stone furnace beside the small house. A woman and a child sat on the wooden platform before the doors into their home. Sheena presumed that the woman was the child's mother.

"Um, hello?"  
Sheena tentatively greeted, hoping that she had found a friendly village.  
"Hello!"  
The woman replied with a smile. She was a middle aged woman, and had a sort of warmth around her. The aura of someone who had found true happiness.

"It's rare that we get visitors in this small village of ours, come, have a seat here. What's your name?"  
The woman said,  
"Sheena... My name is Sheena."  
She replied, taking a seat beside the woman and the child. The little girl grinned as she stared at Sheena with interest. Sheena couldn't help but look at her, smiling as well. The man had finished up with the furnace, and joined them. He also had a warm smile.  
"Who do we have here? Someone you know?"  
He asked, and the woman shook her head.  
"No, she's just a visitor. Can she spend the night here?"  
"Of course, we certainly have enough spare rooms and food..."

"Uh, wait! I wasn't looking for a place to stay, I just had a few questions to ask..."  
Sheena said,

"Do you have somewhere to stay for the night?"  
The man asked,

"Well... No..."

"Then you can speak with us while we have some food."  
The woman said.  
"I'll get dinner ready now."

Sheena finally gave in.  
"O...kay... Sure, I'll stay."

"Let's go inside then."  
The man said, and took his child by her hand, taking her into the main room. Sheena followed. It was a small cozy place, not too spectacularly furnished, yet it was pleasant inside. As the three of them took a seat, Sheena asked her question,

"Have you ever heard of the demon slayers?"

"Oh, yes! We had to hire them once in fact. A giant centipede had attacked us, and just one of them was enough to kill it! The centipede was nearly thirty feet tall! The only thing they took for payment was a small fragment of some pink... stone... We're not too sure what it was, but it came out of the demon. Very shocking what had happened to their village and the remaining slayers however..."  
The man replied, and caught Sheena's attention.

"Do you know what happened? To the village I mean. Who attacked it?"

The man scratched the back of his head,

"Well, we don't know exactly what happened... But when it did, there was a rumor going around that it was a half demon who goes by the name of Inuyasha that brought the end of the demon slayers..."

"Inu...yasha? Dog demon? He's a half demon... Just like..."  
Sheena muttered to herself, deep in thought. The man stared at her,

"Pardon me?"

His voice broke Sheena's concentration, and she looked up blankly.  
"Huh? Oh, it's nothing... Nothing..."

A few moments of silence later, the woman came back, carrying a small table with four bowls of rice and two big fish.

"Thank you..."  
Sheena said as she absent-mindedly started eating with the family. Her mind was locked on one thing. To avenge the demon slayers; to kill Inuyasha.

* * *

Review. 


	9. Chapter 9

Review.

* * *

**New Discoveries**

* * *

It was early. It was very early. It was so early that dew hadn't formed on the grass which Sheena now traveled upon. She hastily left the family she was staying with, leaving a scribbled thank-you and farewell note, and tore off into the night. There was no time to waste now, she had to go and kill this 'Inuyasha' and avenge the demon slayer village. It was slightly unbelievable, that a single half demon could lay waste to such skillful warriors, but she knew just how powerful half demons could become. The sun finally began to rise; its orange glow lighting the path for Sheena. At least now, she had some clue of what was going on. She now had a target.

* * *

"Rising Falcon!"  
"Angel Feathers!"  
"Hell pyre!"

For Lloyd's group, it was a morning of demon killing. The village that they stayed in was suddenly attacked, luckily by three; a number that they could work with.

"Oh, thank you so much!"  
A male villager came out of hiding to say,  
"We've heard of other village that had been wiped out by demons and used for a stronger demon's castle."

"Used for his castle?"  
Lloyd asked,

"Yes, it is a very powerful demon; there is toxic miasma around him, and he has caused many a great deal of pain all across the land. His name is Naraku.

"Naraku? Where is he now?"  
Colette asked,

"Nobody really knows, he is very elusive."

Lloyds group silently looked at one another, giving hints that they each wanted to go check this Naraku out. They left the village later that day; they were provided food in thanks to helping them out.  
"We'll just have to seek more info about this guy, and take him out. Even with our numbers, it shouldn't be too hard, I mean, if this guy's so bad, then there must be other people wanting to get at him too."

Zelos said,  
"Yeah, we'll just have to join them. We'll leave right after we take this Naraku guy down."  
Lloyd nodded.

* * *

Inuyasha opened his eyes to the glowing sunrise, and yawned loudly. He stretched, jumping off the branch he slept on. He noticed that Sango hadn't returned from her village yet, but that was fine; she and Kirara were smart enough to find them even if they moved on, unlike Kagome. Speaking of which... He couldn't see her... Where was she? All of it was answered by a scribbled note where Kagome was last night.

"_I forgot there was a test today, I'll be back later! Sorry! And I took Shippo with me, he's in the village. I don't know, having at least him with me makes me less scared of the dark!"_

Inuyasha heaved a sigh, shaking his head. He walked over to the sleeping monk Miroku, kicking him awake ever so roughly.

"Hey, we're going back to Kaede's."  
He said,

"Ah, why must all good dreams be disturbed? Alright! Stop kicking, I'll be going at my own pace, you go on ahead."

Nodding with a chuckle, Inuyasha went ahead; they weren't very far from the village at all. Maybe just a mile or two. They just couldn't tell in the dark the night before.

Yeah, I know _nothing_ happened this chapter. Care to guess why?


	10. Chapter 10

Hey, hey. I know it's a late update, but... I guess better late than never, right? Right...?

* * *

**New Discoveries**

* * *

It was midday; there was a very grumpy and restless Inuyasha sitting leaning against a wall in Kaede's hut.  
"Always 'forgets' about these little tests she has. Keh! But at least Sango comes back on time, I always have to go and practically drag Kagome from her room!"

"Ye should know, it is a difficult task to live two lives. She is a strong girl trying to succeed in both worlds."  
Kaede replied, poking at the fire.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. But why doesn't she ever come back when she says she will? She's already a day late."  
The constant complaining filled the quiet hut.

* * *

"Should be about time to return..."  
Sango said to herself, finishing up on sharpening both her sword and Hiraikotsu. She packed up her things, and paid her respects to the graves one more time before approaching the gates.

"Come on, Kirara, let's go."  
She said, and the little cat demon transformed in a whirl of fire to her true form. Sango climbed on Kirara's back, and took off for the fairly long journey back to Kaede's.

* * *

Sheena could hear the wind whip by as she traveled at lightning speeds. It felt good to be free again. She couldn't do this back at home because of what the people might think of her. She had learned on the way at some villages that Inuyasha was one with silver hair and doglike ears. He was clad in red; people said he was hard to miss. Ignoring the questions she received of why she was looking for him, she tore down the forest, heading north

* * *

"Man, this job is hard without someone who knows a lot about demons."  
Zelos remarked, clutching a gash on his arm. They fought a demon previously that resembled a dragon, and he couldn't heal himself with magic at the moment because he felt quite drained. He would rather save gels for the tougher battles.

"Yeah, no matter how many times we cut it down, it just kept coming back..."  
Lloyd replied.

"I guess all demons have some kind of weakness. The really weak ones we can just overpower, but the stronger ones won't go down that easily."  
Collette said. The demon's weakness was the forehead. As soon as Collette aimed her angel feathers directly at it, the demon shrieked and fell dead.  
"I wonder if this Naraku has such a weakness."  
She said.

"It's probably not going to be this obvious,"  
Zelos said,  
"I mean, if this many people have had trouble trying to even find him? He must be pretty strong."

"Yeah..."  
Lloyd said, and suddenly, he had an idea.  
"Hey... What if... Naraku was the one who destroyed the village? I mean, you have to be really strong to destroy a village of demon slayers, and he seems to be the type."

Zelos thought for a moment.  
"Huh... Well would you look at that... Our Lloyd has learned how to think..."

"Shut up! I'm being serious!"  
Lloyd said,

"Yeah, yeah, I know... I'm thinking that it's really possible. This Naraku guy seems to be terrorizing the small villages as well, why not destroy the biggest threat first?"  
Zelos said.  
"Let's find and tell this to Sheena; we'll investigate on Naraku more."

* * *

After a long day of talking to ladies and getting some money, Miroku made his way back to the hut. It was almost night now, the sun was setting and the sky was a fiery orange. Sighing contently, he leaned his staff against a wall, and took a seat.

"Today was a good day."  
He said to Inuyasha wit ha smile.

Inuyasha merely snorted.  
"Keh."

"Lighten up, Inuyasha, try to have some fun once in a while."  
Miroku said, lifting his bag of coins to see how heavy it was. It was pretty darn heavy.

Without replying, Inuyasha stood up, picking up his sword. He looked outside.

"Something's coming, isn't it?"  
Miroku asked, his expression serious now.

"Yeah. You stay here and count your money, I can handle this."  
Inuyasha said cockily.

"Hah. Fine, whatever you say, Inuyasha."  
Miroku said, crossed his arms, leaning on the wall. Inuyasha walked off, jumping up to a tall tree to see better. He couldn't quite see it, but he could smell something of a demon and feel an aura closing in, fast. It had quite a hostile intent. He decided to wait it out; to see if it would just pass by. In a few moments, he felt a fierce wind pass him, his hair blown back. The tree he was on began to collapse, and he jumped off quickly, landing lightly on the ground. Looking around for the cause, Inuyasha quickly drew his sword.

There was a moment of silence, nothing happened. When Inuyasha eased up, thinking that it just passed by the village, it struck. With barely enough time to block, the right shoulder of his robe was cut, his blood seeping out of it.

'Shit!'  
Inuyasha thought, he couldn't even see what the weapon was. The blow was clearly aimed at his heart, and if he didn't use his sword, it would have clearly been his end. It was skilled for sure. Inuyasha jumped off quickly into the forest to prevent any damage to the village. This battle wasn't going to end quickly. His ears could pick up a step coming from behind. He raised his sword, and there was a loud clang; he was knocked back a bit. He could feel the wind of the blow whip past him.

'Damn! It's too fast!'

He barely blocked another blow to his left, one to his right. He was definitely pinned down; he could barely block its hits in time

"Keh! I guess this won't end quietly!"  
Inuyasha exclaimed, blocking another blow. He raised the tetsusaiga over his head, the wind swirling around it.

"Windscar!"  
Inuyasha cried, aiming at the last spot where it attacked him. He knew it was a direct hit, he could feel it resisting against his power. It couldn't move for a moment, but it was enough. Inyuasha could finally see the attacker. It was another half demon just like him. It's crimson eyes glared at him with hatred, fangs barred in disgust. It snarled at him, the attack obviously hurt it. It was cut all over, especially the arms which took most of the hit from the windscar. Growling, the half demon retreated, disappearing into the now very dark forest.

"Heh, well that's that."  
Inuyasha said, putting a hand on his wound. Hissing, his took his hand away. In confusion, he tried to look at it. It actually hurt! He could feel the fiery pain ring through his whole arm.

'Shit, maybe it's poisoned. Better have this looked at by Kaede...'  
He thought, and began making his way back to the village.

* * *

So there you have it, the next chapter, after a looooooong break. Review please. 


	11. Chapter 11

Heeey there, I know I haven't updated in a while. Forgive me.

* * *

"So what did ye say that caused this wound, Inuyasha?"  
Kaede, squinting at the half-demon's gash, dabbing it with a cloth with a strong smell. It made Inuyasha hiss.  
"Ah! That freaking hurts you hag! I don't know exactly what caused it! I know for sure it was a half demon, though."

"A half demon you say?"  
She replied, the wrinkles on her forehead deepened slightly. Miroku and Shippo had already dozed off in a corner. It was apparent that he tried to wait for Inuyasha, but couldn't. He was still clutching his staff.  
"A really strong one too. Why would it try to attack here?"  
He asked.

"That I do not know... This wound however..."

"What is it? Some kind of poison? It actually hurts like hell."  
He said, staring at the dark red seeping out of the wound. She examined it more carefully.

"Aye, this was a claw wound, you say?"  
He nodded.  
"It will hurt for a while, but with this medicine and your healing powers, it shouldn't be a problem. It may hurt for a little while, however."  
She said. Pressing some herbs on the wound, she wrapped it tightly in white bandages. Inuyasha wore a scowl.

"Grr, that's just great! Stupid poison..."  
He grumbled, clutching his shoulder.

"What does concern me, however, is the fact that it was a half demon that attacked you."  
Kaede said, collecting her herbs and unused bandages.  
"Half demons usually don't attack anyone like that."

"This one looked like it'd snapped."  
Inuyasha said.  
"Her eyes were blood red, and were out to kill. Maybe for revenge or something."

"In any case, be careful from now on."  
She said.

"Keh, since when were you so worried about my safety?"  
Inuyasha said rudely to nothing but the night air. Kaede had already left the small hut back to her own. Inuyasha lied down on the futon, head resting on his hands. He stared up at the bland ceiling, recalling the fight that had just happened.

'It was pretty strong... And fast too! Maybe I just got lucky and caught it off guard with my windscar... Whatever, I probably won't even see it again.'  
He thought, drifting off to a light sleep.

* * *

Outside, the air started denser, a fog settling in. The thick air began to weigh down the cat demon in the air. Sango sighed, squinting; The fog condensed on her clothes, making it feel like gravity had just doubled. They flew higher, but even the sky was filled with fog.  
"Kirara, we should camp out here tonight. Try landing on a thick branch of a tree."  
She ordered gently with a pat to her head. With a soft purr, the neko descended, and transformed into her small form right before they landed, falling softly into Sango's arms. She knew the neko hated this kind of weather. She cuddled the creature closely, holding her closely to her chest. Kirara mewled affectionately, snuggling closely to the warmth of her mistress. Her soft fur provided warmth for Sango. She leaned against the trunk of the tree, and sat down on the branch.

'I really wanted to get back to Inuyasha and the others today, but I guess with this weather, I can't...'

She thought as she clutched her companion tightly. Everything felt cold and damp. It really wasn't a pleasant night. Even the moon was masked by the dense fog. She could feel that Kirara had already fallen asleep in her arms. Her lips curled into a smile as she stroked Kirara's fur. It had been a long journey to the village and it must have been difficult for her as well to visit the peoples' graves. It never was a pleasant sight.  
In the silence of the night, Sango was deep in thought. She thought about the last time she was alone like this with Kirara. It was just the night before her final mission before the destruction of her village. Everything was so still, so serene. Her family was still alive...

She then thought of how she had met her new friends. After her village was destroyed, she was tricked into attacking them, but in the end they forgave her for everything. If that wasn't enough, she was forgiven even after she had stolen a vital weapon. Kagome, she always treated her kindly, just like a sister. Miroku, even with his lecherous ways had his charms and Shippo, the cute little demon was one she learned to love a lot. She knew that even through his tricks and pranks, he loved the whole group as well. Finally she thought of Inuyasha. There were so many things she was grateful towards him for. Saving her life for one, and giving her a reason to live being another. When he had saved her from Naraku, she knew that she had fallen in love. She wanted to be with him more, she enjoyed the talks they had while Inuyasha carried her because of her injuries. She actually wanted her injuries to stop healing so that she would have a reason to be closer to him.

No matter how many times she practiced her confession, however, she was never able to tell him. For one thing, he never seemed to look at her as a woman; she was just as a skilled fighter watching his back. Another was her best friend Kagome. Sango could tell that Kagome had feelings for Inuyasha, even through all their fighting. She could never betray her friend and upset the harmony that their group shared.

She then decided to lock her feelings within, and decided not to get any closer to him. She was great at masking her emotions, and she hid her secret well. The only time she slipped up was on the strange mountain where she fell under the influence of alcohol; something she was surprisingly weak against. Thankfully enough, even though she practically threw herself at Inuyasha, she didn't say anything that raised suspicion. When asked about it, she told the group that she had no idea what she was doing.

The talk she had with him a few mornings ago about Kikyo's death was one of the rare times she spoke to him outside of battle. She eventually accepted Miroku's proposal in an attempt to move on, but she knew she couldn't possibly live with his lecherous ways.  
Even though she had distanced herself from him for both of their own goods, she had never been able to drive away the deep feelings she harbored for the hanyou. She longed for a day when she could be alone with him, and that she would be freely able to confess...

* * *

Inuyasha sat up in bed, having enough of sleep. His shoulder let out a wave of pain, but he merely grunted. Pulling on his red shirt, he walked outside, rubbing his eyes. It was still very dark, and he could see that it was a very foggy night.

'Sango's late... Must be all this fog slowing her down. Hope she's alright...'

He thought, squinting to see further on the roof.

Sango was immediately brought out of her thoughts from the sound of a snapping twig nearby. Her hand slowly curled around handle of her sword; whatever it was, she figured it would be better to wield a weapon that was stealthier. She sensed a weakened demonic aura. It was fighting to survive. She waited to see if it would pass quietly or if it would provoke her. Little by little, she felt the aura fade into the fog. Slipping off the tree branch, she looked down the road. She looked down and saw a trail of fresh blood leading towards toward where the aura faded. Sighing with relief, she began to walk with Kirara still asleep in her arms. Sango let her rest for the night. She could make another 2 miles by foot while Kirara was asleep, and the sun would rise soon.

* * *

The campfire of Lloyd's group was a slightly pitiful one that night.  
"The damp air prevents it from burning too brightly..."  
Lloyd said, tossing some more twigs into the fire.  
"Ahh, don't worry about it, Lloyd. In this dim light, it actually makes your face look almost half as handsome as mine."  
Zelos said with a laugh.

"Hey, shut up!"  
Lloyd yelled, Colltte giggled beside him.

"Alright, alright, I was just joking. You'll never be that handsome anyways. Let's get some sleep now, alright?"  
He asked, lying down on his sleeping bag. Just then, they sensed someone coming down the road that they were camping beside. Giving each other looks, they nodded, each hiding behind their own tree. They readied their weapons, preparing for the worst. Out of the think fog, the dark shadow emerged, and Zelos was the first to recognize that it was a female. She stopped walking, and examined the fireplace. With a sigh of relief, Zelos stepped out of the tree's cover.

"I can't believe I was scared of such a beautiful girl!"  
He started with a smile. Lloyd and Collette both shook their heads.

"Excuse me?"  
The woman asked. He could see her features now. She really was a looker, with long dark hair and her chocolate brown eyes. Her eyes bore through his own. She clearly wasn't happy with his outburst. He could see that she was armed with an abnormally large boomerang strapped to her back. In her arms, she held a cute little cat with two tails. Collette and Lloyd came out of hiding to look at the girl.  
"Hey there. What are you doing out here alone so late?"  
Lloyd asked. She looked over at him.

"I'm just returning to my friends from a trip. I take it that I came across your campsite?" She asked.  
"Why yes! Wouldn't you like to stay here with us for the night? I swear that I'll keep you safe from any demons in this area!"  
Zelos said confidently. The girl shot him a look and kept an eye on him. At least he didn't physically harass her like someone he resembled.

"I should get going, I already am half a day late…"  
She said to Lloyd.

"Well, no point going on as you are now, right? You look tired, how about you just rest up here and go at double the pace tomorrow?"  
He said. She stared straight into his eyes. He seemed to be a kindhearted and honest guy. Finally, she nodded.  
"Alright, I'll stay here for the night."  
She ignored Zelos' cheer.

"Great!"  
Collette said, excited.  
"My name's Collette! This is Lloyd and Zelos!"  
She said, walking up to the girl and taking her by the hand to where the fireplace was. It instantly felt a lot warmer.  
"We're not from these lands, so we don't know much about the area. What's your name?"  
She asked.

"I-I'm... I'm Sango."  
The girl said quetly.

* * *

Well that's the end of this chapter. Review please.


	12. Chapter 12

Hey guys, another chapter up.

* * *

Hours had passed and the faintest rays of light cut through the darkness. The thick fog that had formed the night before seemed to have rolled away. Sango stood taking a long stretch in front of the dying embers of the fire. She hadn't gotten any sleep. Whether it was the fact that she was staying with complete strangers, the constant damp feeling or her unruly thoughts, she didn't know. She looked around the campfire, at the three still sleeping. As the sun rose, she could finally see the people clearly. They certainly looked like they were from faraway lands. They did seem well armed as well; two of them wielded swords and the girl seemed to have chackrams hanging from her bag.  
'They really aren't too smart though, are they? Not leaving someone awake to be a nightwatch... Though I was awake...'

She thought. Kirara awoke with a small yawn. Stretching, she leaped onto Sango's shoulder, snuggling closely to her. Smiling, she looked into down the road. Her smile faded seeing that she hadn't traveled very far at all. There was still a long way to go. She looked down as one of the people stirred awake; she noticed that it was the man that spoke so crassly the night before. She now saw that his dress was flamboyant like his personality. He sat up, yawning and rubbing his eyes.

"Ahh, well, that wasn't the best of sleep..."  
He said hoarsely. He opened his eyes and squinted at the light. He could see who it was now.  
"Now that's a good sight to wake up to!"  
He said, excited.

"Um, excuse me?"  
Sango replied, she really couldn't think of anything else to say to this man. He shook his head sadly.  
"Why don't you give a friendlier response?"  
He asked, Sango looked around to the other two who were just awakening.  
"Well... All you really told me about yourselves are your names... You're... Lloyd, right?"  
She asked. Zelos looked horrified.  
"No, no, no!!"  
He exclaimed, quickly getting to his feet. Before she knew it, Zelos had an arm around Sango's shoulders, which made her reflexively tighten her grip on her weapon. He was pointing to the boy in red still half-asleep. He was a mess in the mornings.

"That brute you see over there is the one called Lloyd."  
Lloyd shook himself awake, glaring at Zelos.  
"Hey, what did you just say about me?"  
"Anyways, Sango, my quiet beauty, where were you off to last night?"  
Zelos asked, getting uncomfortably close to her. She shrugged away from the man, and replied,  
"I'm traveling with my friends and I was returning to them after taking a short trip back to my village."

"Oh! You must introduce me to these friends of yours!"  
Zelos said loudly.  
"If they were half as beautiful as you, I would die happy."  
He continued. Sango was immediately silenced. There could not be another guy who resembled the monk more. Shaking the image of the two meeting out of her head, she said,  
"So what are you doing here? You said you weren't from these lands?"  
She asked. Lloyd, Collette and Zelos glanced at each other; it wouldn't be a story that could be paraphrased.  
"Well, it is a long story, you sure you want to hear it?"  
Zelos asked. Something told Sango that she should listen from the serious tone he had just spoken in.  
"O-okay..."  
She replied.

"Do you remember a time a while back when the sky turned purple?"  
Lloyd asked. She nodded,

"It was a strange sight. Do you know what caused it?"  
She asked.

"That purple light from the sky... Was another planet."  
Collette said.  
"It was the end of our long journey..."

* * *

In a miasmic area of the vast forests of the land, there was a blood curdling scream of a dying demon. With it's last breath, it cursed the one that cruelly ripped it's limbs off one at a time. With one strike, however, it was all over. The bloody claw that ripped through the chest of the demon extracted a small fragment of a jewel. Not a droplet of blood had stained it. With a low chuckle, he held the fragment, and added it to a much larger piece of the jewel it broke off of. He knew that the only pieces left were held by Inuyasha and his annoying group. He now had the chance to finish them all off once and for all, and he knew failure was near impossible...

* * *

Inuyasha awoke with a hiss; his shoulder was still in pain. It wasn't as bad as before, but it still hurt. He heard a familiar voice call out to him.  
"Inuyasha, you're awake!"  
He turned to see Kagome kneeling beside him. He sat up angrily, and asked,  
"And why are you so late?"

With a frown, she replied,  
"I'm not late! It just took me a little longer to prepare everything again."  
She said, pointing at her monster of a bag that had just recently been fed. He sighed,  
"So you ARE late then."  
"No I'm not!"

"Hey you guys, quit arguing! I'm trying to sleep he- Hey, Inuyasha, what happened to your arm?"  
Shippo asked, pointing to the bandages.  
"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask, what happened?"  
Kagome asked, helping him sit up.

"It's nothing big, just something attacked me last night."  
"Was it a demon?"  
She asked. He shook his head,

"No, it was a half-demon. A really strong one."  
"A half-demon? Why would a half-demon attack you?"  
She asked, and Inuyasha responded with a shrug. Shaking her head, she decided to change the topic.  
"Did Sango return yet?"  
She asked.  
"Come to speak of it, no... I guess she needs a little more time in her village."  
He said, getting up from his futon. Miroku had already gone out to do his morning prayers.  
"I hope she's alright..."  
Kagome said,  
"She's fine."  
He said confidently, opening the door and looking outside. It was a much better day than the the previous one.

* * *

"... And in the end... We had to destroy his exphere, ending his existence..."  
Lloyd said, his voice fading away. Sango could tell that it was quite a painful thing to say. She couldn't believe what she had just heard; how there were two worlds that had just been formed into one, how there were human beings turned into lifeless beings and how these people had been the ones to save the whole world, all without the knowledge of most of the people who lived in it such as herself. She was speechless; she didn't know whether it was a serious tale, an exaggerated tale, or a lie altogether. She was most of all surprised that fate had lead these people travel with one of her old friends, Sheena Fujibayashi. It was the part told her that the story was no lie, it really had happened.  
"Sheena... Where did she go?"  
Sango asked in the moment of silence. The three looked up at her, eyes wide.  
"How do you know my hunnie?"  
Zelos asked,  
"Y-your... Hunnie? You're in a serious relationship with Sheena?"  
She asked in disbelief. She couldn't tell what was more farfetched. Their story, or his claims of Sheena being his 'hunnie'. He merely chuckled.  
"Hah, well, you could say that."

"Sango... She is an old friend of mine... We visited each other's villages a long time ago."

The threes' eyes widened again.  
"Are you... Are you the last demon slayer?"  
Lloyd asked, standing up.

"Yes... I am."

"Wow! What a coincidence! Sango, Sheena had left our group after we visited your village to try and find you!"  
Collette said clapping her hands in realization.  
"A girl wielding a weapon larger than her? I see it now!"  
Lloyd exclaimed. In Zelos' mind, all he could think about was how Sheena said Sango wasn't too pretty. He immediately had a smug expression. It was also him that didn't believe her. The great Zelos' instincts about women never did lie. She was a beauty.

So there's the chapter. Please review. Please.


	13. Chapter 13

Yo. I'm updating again.

* * *

It was early in the morning when it awoke. Growling in pain, the half-demon rolled over onto its back, glaring up into the cloudy sky, very bitter for being defeated the night before. There were many scratches and gashes on the humanly figure. They had finally stopped bleeding after the half-demon collapsed the night before and fell unconscious. It sat up painfully, cursing the one who defeated it so easily. It knew that it was the person it was looking for, however. He was strong. He could probably wipe out a whole village of humans with his strength. The demon knew that Inuyasha could have wiped out the demon slayer village by himself.

* * *

"So why are you traveling around, Sango?"  
Lloyd asked, the breaking the silence after they had finished telling the long story. Sango's gaze shifted to the ground, knowing she should tell these people. It was a painful thing to talk about, but eventually, she knew that they had to find Sheena and fill her in as well.

"Well, I travel with four friends... Kagome, Miroku, Shippo and Inuyasha."  
She began,  
"It all began with the sacred shikon jewel..."  
It was her turn to tell a long story now. She told them about Inuyasha and how Kagome was from the future, how the shikon jewel had been shattered, how she had been tricked but saved by Inuyasha and how their group planned to destroy the bastard Naraku who had destroyed her village. When she had finished talking, Lloyd spoke.  
"We've heard of this Naraku guy before... He really is a bad guy, huh?"

"Yes Lloyd, he's the 'bad guy.'"  
Zelos taunted. Lloyd shot him an angry look. Shrugging, Zelos said,  
"Well, my beautiful, graceful slayer, as you know, we came here looking for exspheres, but found none. We did hear of the troubles this land is having, though and we wanted to investigate so that we could do something about it. Would it be possible to join up with your group? You seem to know a lot more about what he's like than we do."

Sango thought for a moment, it would be great to have more help, it was even better because there was a chance of meeting her old friend again. She did, however, want to discuss it with the others.

"Well, you could come with me and ask Inuyasha. He's the leader of our group."  
She said.  
"But do you guys have any idea where Sheena might be?"

Lloyd shook his head,  
"She said something about your weapon not being on top of one of the graves and wanted to search for you alone. We don't really know these lands at all, so we don't really have a clue about where she is right now."

"I see..."  
Sango responded, slightly disappointed.  
"Let's start moving then. On foot, we should be there in three days or so."  
She said. The others followed her lead down the road.

'Three more days late? Inuyasha's going to kill me..."  
She thought with a frown as she walked.

* * *

Inuyasha was indeed grumpy, but he was secretly more worried than angry. Why was Sango late? She knew that they were to move without her if she wasn't there by that afternoon. If they stayed too long, Naraku would attack the village. They had to leave today. He knew that his friends were just as worried as he was, but he had to be firm. Standing, he said,  
"We can't wait for her anymore. We have to set off today; I'm sure she'll find us."

"Yes, I guess it can't be helped, she's rarely late."  
Miroku said, concerned.

"Inuyasha, let's go to her village and look for her."  
Kagome said, and Inuyasha nodded.  
"Alright."

They thanked Kaede, left her a message in case Sango came, and left. It was a quiet and brisk walk. Inuyasha knew that she wasn't in any danger, she could fend for herself. He was worried nevertheless.

"So Sango, what's this Inuyasha guy like? He seems to be a pretty nice guy considering that he took you in and stuff."  
Lloyd asked,  
"He must fancies you if he took you in the group even after you tried to kill him and stuff. You like him a lot too, I think."  
Zelos added with a grin, receiving a warning nudge from Lloyd. Sango's face hardened, a stiff smile appearing on her lips in time. She was asked this question a lot.  
"Inuyasha and I are just good friends. I've promised to live with the monk Miroku I told you about earlier. And yes, he is a nice guy... He can be quite rude sometimes, but he has a kind heart."  
Zelos could instantly tell that what she was saying wasn't entirely the truth. He had lived his whole life wearing a mask, and he could tell that she had put one on. Not wanting to linger on such a subject, he moved on,  
"And your friend Kagome? How is she?"

"Oh yeah! She's from the future?"  
Collette said, clapping her hands,

"I'd really like to hear what the future's like!"  
"It... Really doesn't sound different from the thing's I've heard you talk about. Flying machines, self-moving rides, light without fire…"  
"So the future's... No different from now?"

"Well... Apparently... There's no magic in the future, and everything's run by electricity or something."

"How far into the future is this? How can there be no magic?"  
Collette asked,

"I'm really not sure about all of this, I'm sorry... You can ask her when you see her?"  
She said. Zelos made another typical remark,

"I can't wait until I meet her! I have another feeling that she's pretty like you, right, Sango?"  
Sango couldn't help but blush; he was just like Miroku minus the groping, which he made up by making her feel equally uncomfortable with his words.  
"Um... Well, yeah, I guess..."

* * *

Walking down the path with his friends, Inuyasha realized something. It was the night before the full moon. How could he have forgotten? There was a brief moment of panic in his eyes which thankfully went unnoticed by his friends. He looked down at the ground as he led them on as he calmed down to think. They were just on the way to Sango's village, and there would always be hiding spots in the forest in case they were attacked. Though, it would be hard to protect Kagome as a human with Miroku... Either way, they couldn't stop; they had to make sure Sango was safe. It would take three days to walk there, and he would be back to his original form by the time arrived. It was unlikely that they would be attacked on the way...

Sheena turned a few cards around in her hands. They were not the charms she used to attack, but were prototypes of the meltokio labs.  
'Tomorrow's the night... We both suffer...'  
She thought.

* * *

Alright, everyone... You're making me sad by not reviewing... Please, please please at least review once... 


	14. Chapter 14

Why hello there! It's been what, two years since my last update? You may think that I had forgotten about this story, but I never forgot! I always thought about continuing, but never got around to actually doing it because of plain old life and writer's block. I really appreciated the reviews despite the lack of updates. I'll try to continue without stopping for two long years again. On to the next chapter!

* * *

It was a dark evening; almost too dark to see where Inuyasha and his group were going. It was a cool night, the wind picking up at times. It was the only night of the month where Inuyasha would be bothered by something such as the weather. He remembered the new moons he had to spend alone as a child. All of his near death experiences were always fresh in his mind every month. He hated the feelings that would only come from the night of the new moon as he cowered in a cave or a tree; the unexpected coldness at night, the pain from sore muscles, but he mostly hated the fear that only humans felt.

The new moons during the times with his friends, however, he didn't mind as much. He would rather die than admit it, but he knew his friends could, and would protect him. There were even new moons where he actually got some sleep.

"Let's stop here; I can't see a thing anymore."  
Miroku said, setting down his things. He pulled some sheets of paper from his sleeve to ready the barriers and charms to repel demons. Kagome set down her oversized yellow bag on the dirt, stretching.  
"Ahh, finally! I'm exhausted. Was the walk to the village always this long?"  
She began rummaging through her bag to find the food she packed, along with the matches to start a fire. Shippo had already collected an armful of dry leaves and twigs along the way.  
"Kagome, did you bring it? Did you?  
He asked, dropping the load of kindling on the ground. Digging a little deeper in her bag, Kagome pulled out what she needed along with a small peanut flavored lollipop which Shippo absolutely loved.  
"Yes, yes, but you know you can't have it until we're finished dinner, right?"  
Pouting slightly, Shippo nodded. Shortly later, Miroku returned from placing his charms, with some wood for the fire. When Inuyasha got the fire going, his transformation had finished taking place, and his black hair was visible.  
"So with Sango gone, I guess that leaves me to be the night watch."  
Miroku said, taking a bite out of a sandwich. It was a strange kind of food that he had never seen before, but having known Kagome for some time, he began to enjoy the things Kagome brought back from the future.  
"I'll be awake too."  
Inuyasha said, taking out half a sandwich in one bite. He looked at the leftover portion that would have been Sango's.  
"I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight even if I wanted to."

* * *

Looking up into the sky, Sango was worried. She had completely forgotten that it was already the new moon. Feeling slightly guilty for not being there with Inuyasha and the others, she mindlessly fidgeted with the lacings on her boomerang.

"What's got you down my cool slayer hunnie? You kind of look worried or something."  
It took all Sango had to ignore her dreaded nickname from Zelos, and answer,  
"Well, one of my friends, Inuyasha is a dog half demon. Every new moon, he turns into a regular human for the night. Since Inuyasha is an enemy of Naraku, that's the night we have to hide, since he loses all of his demonic powers."  
"Demonic powers? You know, the more I hear of your friend, the more I think he'll be kind of scary... You said he's pretty strong too, right? What does he look like?"  
Lloyd asked nervously. He just couldn't shake the image of a beastlike demon out of his head whenever this 'Inuyasha' was mentioned.

"What does he look like? Well... He actually looks like a normal human... minus his claws, fangs, hair and ears..."  
"His ears?"  
Colette interrupted,  
"What's different about his ears?  
""Well, they're on top of his head, like dog ears..."  
"Dog ears?"  
"Yes, he is a half dog demon..."  
Colette suddenly squealed happily, clapping.  
"Yay! I love dogs! Especially their ears! Do you think he'll let me pet him and touch his ears? Oh I know we're going to be great friends! Too bad I can't name him since he already has a one..."

Lloyd and Zelos sighed, knowing Colette's unstoppable love for dogs. Sango on the other hand, looked bewildered, but at the same time trying not to laugh at the image of the little Colette asking to pet Inuyasha.

"Trust me, he is more human than he is a demon. Like I said, he's quite rude to strangers, but I'm sure we'll be able to get along just fine."  
Sango said with a smile.  
"But try to avoid talking about his human nature. He's quite sensitive about the fact that he's a half breed, which isn't surprising given his past."  
"How about you Sango? How do you feel about the fact that he's half demon?"  
Zelos suddenly asked.  
"I don't have a problem with it. He's a wonderful guy that's simply misunderstood a lot of the time. There are many humans that are more vile and disgusting than some demons, and Inuyasha is one of the best people that I've ever..."  
Sango blushed.  
"I-I'm sorry, I'm not really used to talking this openly with people I've just only met..."

"No! No! It's fine! I for one am quite interested in what you have to say. It's good to be honest to your own feelings. Damn, now I'm kind of jealous of this Inuyasha guy, having a girl like you!"  
Zelos said, snickering. Sango blushed deeper.  
"Like I said, Inuyasha and I—"  
"Yes, yes, I understand you're shy and don't want to admit it, but don't worry, you'll fall for the great Zelos sooner or later! Hahaha!"  
Lloyd sighed, unable to respond to Zelos making a general fool out of himself. Colette, not having a clue agreed with everything he said. He started to miss how Sheena would always keep him in check with a smack or two...

* * *

"Water! Need more water!"  
Shippo choked. His plan to finish dinner as fast as he could had been stopped with a swift attack of indigestion. Kagome laughed, handing him a bottle of water that he practically drank in one gulp.  
"Ahh, that's better. Now can I have it? I'm all done!"  
With a smile, Kagome handed the little demon his prize, which he accepted happily.  
"You little runt... That was the last of our water."  
Inuyasha said, irritated. Sighing, he stood up, picking up the empty bottles.  
"I'll go get some more from the river."  
"Don't go too far off."  
Miroku said, and Inuyasha walked off.

It was a calm night so far, very uneventful. As he bent down to refill one of the bottles, he heard a scream and a loud thud behind him. He reflexively drew his sword, ready to attack. He pulled his sword back when he realized that it was just a human girl.

"Ow... Damn it that hurts..."  
The girl seemed to be injured, with small cuts all over her body and one large one on her abdomen. She seemed to have fallen from a tree close by. Sighing while sheathing his sword, Inuyasha said,  
"Why the hell would you climb a tree in the first place if you're just going to fall out of it?"  
Looking up, she stared at his face, and quickly tried to get up, only to fall again. Inuyasha noticed that she had hurt her leg falling from the tree.  
"You alright?"  
He asked approaching the girl.  
"Stay the hell away from me!"  
She screamed, throwing a nearby stone at him, which he blocked.

"Why you little... Fine! Just sit there and bleed to death! See if I care!"  
Inuyasha angrily walked past her.

* * *

"Um, everyone, I have a favor to ask..."  
Sango said, breaking the silence. She stopped walking and faced her three new companions.  
"I would really feel better if I could ride on ahead and check on my friends. Perhaps we can meet up somewhere later?"  
The others looked at each other, wondering why. Then Zelos smirked.  
"Oh, you're worried about your 'friend'."  
He teased. Ignoring him, Sango replied,  
"Yes. After I meet up with my friends, we'll walk together to meet you."  
"Sango, you say you want to ride ahead, but what exactly are you going to ride?"  
Colette asked.  
"Oh, I haven't introduced her, have I? Kirara!"

The little cat on her shoulder jumped off, transforming into her true form to the others' surprise.  
"Whoa! Where'd that cute little cat go?"  
Lloyd shouted, looking around. Laughing, Sango replied,  
"Kirara's not just an ordinary cat. She's my demon companion. She's quite protective, though, so she probably won't like the people that I don't like..."  
She intensely eyed a nervously laughing Zelos.  
"Ah, good thing I'm not one of those people... But if that's the case, I think we can keep up with you."  
Confused, Sango asked,  
"You can? Do you have something to ride on?"

"Not exactly... We have one last secret to show you..."  
And with that, Zelos materialized his bright orange wings. Following his lead, Lloyd and Colette materialized theirs. Shocked, Sango nearly lost balance, and backed away.  
"Y-you're all winged? Does that mean you're demons? No, I've never seen those kind of wings before... What are you guys?"  
"We're just as human as you Sango."  
Lloyd explained.  
"You know how we told you about those exspheres? Well, to make a long story short, we three have 'upgraded' exspheres. They're called Cruxis Crystals."  
Zelos and Lloyd showed her the spheres on the back of their hands, and Colette, the one below her neck.

"Colette and Zelos both went through a process of transforming into an 'angel,' and were given these crystals since they were the chosens from each world. As for me, this is my mother's memento. It's really the only thing I have to remember her by."  
Sango was still quite amazed. Their bright, ethereal wings seemed to light up the whole area they were in. As long as they didn't get on Inuyasha's bad side, she knew Inuyasha would have no problem with them joining the group because of their unique abilities. Smiling she nodded.  
"Okay, if you think those wings can keep up with Kirara, let's go!"

* * *

Sheena leaned against a tree trunk, cursing her clumsiness. She began to doubt, however. Why was Inuyasha traveling with humans and a child? Why did he let her go? Maybe she had the wrong person? That couldn't be possible since she spent a whole day gathering information about how he looks. Him being human on the night of the new moon further proved that she had the right person. Shaking her head swiftly, she reminded herself that he was the demon who destroyed the slayer village. He was probably stronger and more cunning than she could ever imagine. He was probably in the middle of some plan.  
She was so deep in thought that she didn't hear the footsteps and the rustling of leaves a few meters away. The half demon had returned.

"Keh! For the record, I didn't come back because of you. I forgot my bottles."  
He said without even looking at her. Sheena could notice that he was hiding something behind his back. She was on guard in case it was some kind of weapon. As he gathered up his filled bottles of water, he walked over to her again. Sheena could feel her heart racing. She couldn't see his face too clearly, but she didn't really care what he looked like. She flinched as Inuyasha quickly revealed what was behind his back. It was a small container with one of Kagome's sandwiches inside.  
"H-here... You don't look like you've eaten anything for days so... Look just take it okay?"

He practically threw it at her when she didn't take it. Sheena's glare didn't soften one bit. What should she do? Why was he giving her food? Did she have the wrong person after all? With all the uncertainty, she decided to play along for a second.  
"T-thanks... Sorry for earlier, I was just in a bad mood. I'm Sheena. What's your name?"  
She asked with a softer voice.  
"Keh! No need to apologize... I'm Inuyasha."  
He replied. Suddenly, Sheena shot up, slapping four of her cards on Inuyasha's arms and legs. The sandwich he gave her laid turned over in the dirt. From the pain in her leg from her injury, she collapsed, and kneeled before Inuyasha.

"What the hell was that? And what are these-"  
When Inuyasha tried to reach for one of the cards, he found that he could not move either of his arms. When he tried to back away, his legs wouldn't move. Looking at the cards, he could see that they were faintly glowing blue.

"What the hell? Who are you?"  
"So you are indeed Inuyasha. The one who destroyed the demon slayer village."  
She said, ignoring him. She pulled out another card from her sleeve; this time a red one. It was powerful enough to take out an unarmored human.  
"What? That was a misunderstanding, I never-"  
"Shut up."  
"Hey I'm trying to tell you--"  
"Shut up!"  
Sheena screamed. She didn't want to hear his excuses.  
"Tell me where Sango is."  
She said coldly. Inuyasha was never so confused in his life.  
"Sango? How do you know Sango?"  
"Answer me!"  
"She went to visit her village."  
"Liar!"

Sheena was furious now, tears streaming down her face.  
"Everyone in that village is dead! You're lying to protect yourself!"  
She readied the card in her hand, slowly and painfully getting to her feet.  
"What the hell are you talking about? She-"  
"SHUT UP!"  
She screamed again.  
"Tonight, you're going to pay for what you've done. I'm going to kill you!"  
Inuyasha growled.  
'Shit, this girl is insane! I can't move... What the hell am I going to do? I knew I shouldn't have wandered too far!'  
He thought. The magic in the cards were strong enough to bind him completely. He had no way to escape. She raised her weapon, and uttered the words,  
"Pyre seal!"  
She whipped the card, aimed dead toward his heart.

* * *

I don't know how many people are still interested in this fic, but if you still are, please review! If you've read this for the first time, review! They really do keep me going!

NEW NOTE: I don't know if anyone noticed, but I had to change a few things in chapter 11 for the sake of plot. I made a little mistake there earlier that totally blocked me off. I know it's quite unprofessional, but I had to edit some things out. Thanks for your understanding!

* * *


	15. Chapter 15

Hello! You review and I update! That is indeed how it works!

Note: I don't know if anyone noticed, but I had to change a few things in chapter 11 for the sake of plot. I made a little mistake there earlier that totally blocked me off. I know it's quite unprofessional, but I had to edit some things out. Thanks for your understanding!

_

* * *

Inuyasha sat closely by the fire, warming himself up. He cursed the cold air outside, and the shabby door to the hut he was in that let it all in. It was that time of month for him. The grumpy mood he was always in during the night of the new moon was worsened by the fact that it was forgotten by his friends. Sango, the first one to leave, still hadn't returned from her village since she left, and wasn't due back for another two days. Miroku, having his wind tunnel injured by some demon who transformed into a beautiful girl to trick him, had left to see his master with a scribbled note left behind. Kagome hastily left the night before to return to her time to do one of her dreaded 'tests.' Shippo, being the most useless of the bunch, was the only one to stay; probably only because he didn't have any place important to go. He lay deep asleep against a wall, snoring. Heaving a sigh, Inuyasha crossed his arms, staring into the flames. The silence was disturbed when there was a scream outside. Instantly getting to his feet, Inuyasha's hand instinctively reached for the Tetsusaiga. Cautiously, he walked towards the door, slowly sliding it open._

'_Shit!'  
He cursed, slamming the door shut. There was a large demon outside; it must have been fairly strong to get past Kaede's enchantments and charms. He grabbed the half-asleep Shippo, getting ready to make a break for it._

"_Wha? What's going on Inuyasha?"  
Shippo asked, rubbing his eyes.  
"Just keep your mouth shut, runt!"  
Inuyasha hissed, peeking out the door. It was a giant mantis-like demon. Without Kagome, he couldn't tell if it was using any shards, so he couldn't just run in and fight it recklessly.  
He held his breath, hoping it would just pass, since he honestly didn't know if he could take it or not. Thankfully, it seemed that the scream came from a frightened villager who already ran away. He didn't see any blood, or corpses. Knowing that they were all cowering in their homes, Inuyasha knew he was probably the only one with a fighting chance against it. His knuckles were white, his fingers still curled around the handle of his sword. It was at once silent as it was before the demon arrived, the only sound __being the crackling fire. In the span of a few seconds, the roof of the hut was blown away; the hut was nearly leveled. Grunting, Inuyasha grabbed Shippo by the collar, and ran out of the collapsing building through the now ruined door. Dropping the little demon once he was outside, instructed Shippo to run; a command the little fox reluctantly obeyed. He used his newly learned fox magic to get away safely._

_Inuyasha could instantly tell that he was no match for the demon in his state from the first blow. He managed to get the Tetsusaiga in the way from a certain deathblow, but could feel his arms shaking from the strike. Backing off briefly, he made a run for it's head, sword raised high, only to be deflected by one of it's massive blades again. This time he could feel his arm about to give; the dull pain rang throughout his whole body._

'_Shit, I can't do this after all!'  
He thought, looking at the other huts, and the one he was in, which was completely destroyed now._

'_I can't just let this thing take the whole village... damn it!'  
He turned around and ran in an attempt to lure the demon away in an attempt to buy time for Kaede to think of something. Sure enough, he heard the loud thumps of the giant following behind.  
'Damn it, I can't believe I'm running from this thing!'  
He thought; were he in his regular form, he would have been able to dispatch the bastard easily with the Windscar. Looking up at the dark sky, he could tell that there was still a long way to go before the sun rose. It was the impeccable feeling in his gut that was never wrong. While he was looking, he stripped over a root sticking out of the ground, which made him stumble. Luckly, he caught himself, and regained his balance. Hissing at the pain in his toe He realized that the path he was on was nearly pitch black. All of a sudden, he felt something cold on his foot._

_'Crap, it's a river!'  
He thought, and spun around. Without any warning, he heard a tree falling next to him. His luck ran out in the next blow, when one if its blades found it's way into Inuyasha's thigh, causing him to cry out. He fell, crawling backwards.  
'You've gotta be kidding me! This can't be how it ends! How the hell did it come to this?'  
He felt another, deeper slice on his shoulder. He could hear another blade whipping up to finish the job..._

_The blow never came; he couldn't see a thing. He couldn't tell whether it was the darkness him losing consciousness, or both. There sounded to be a lot of commotion; there was noise everywhere. The thing he heard most clearly however was the voice of one of his friends.  
__"Hiraikotsu!"_

* * *

"Hiraikotsu!"

Sheena's seal was suddenly stopped by something large. Wedged into the ground, it was large enough to completely block her target, Inuyasha from view. With no strength to continue, her legs gave out and she fell to her knees. Her eyes widened when she realized what the large object was. She looked up, and saw a large demon carrying a woman who resembled her old friend Sango, surrounded by Lloyd, Colette and Zelos. She fell forward, her face in the dirt.  
'Heh, you've gotta be kidding me... I must be dreaming..."

She thought. Her body had finally given out, and she lost consciousness. Whatever this illusion was, she was too spent to care anymore...

_

* * *

_

_Sango was still panicking, the blood just wouldn't stop! She didn't have time to go back to the village, so she crushed the herbs that she always kept in case of an emergency, and quickly dressed the wound on his leg over his clothes. His shoulder, however, was in considerably worse shape. Luckily, it wasn't deep enough to hit anything important, but the large gash was bleeding quite heavily. If she had arrived a moment later, he would have been in trouble. It was a good thing that she had spotted a frightened Shippo running away from something. Her heart was racing when she heard what happened from the little fox. Hoping she wasn't too late, she asked Kirara to find her scent, which she soon did. _

_Tearing a piece of cloth with her teeth, she wrapped it around his torso to at least slow the bleeding. She would have to take him to the village so he could be properly treated, but she hoped her efforts weren't in vain._

* * *

Inuyasha stood in his spot, dumbfounded. The weapon that blocked the deathblow aimed at him was instantly recognizable.  
"S-Sango!"  
He stuttered, looking up. Sure enough, the demon slayer was there. Looking at his arms and legs again, he noticed that the cards keeping him immobilized fell to the ground as he heard the girl covered by the Hiraikotsu fall. Kirara landed next to him, and Sango jumped off her back.  
"Inuyasha, are you okay?"  
She asked, checking him for any wounds.  
"Y-yeah..."  
He replied, slightly stunned. Sighing with relief, Sango dislodged her weapon from the ground.  
"Sorry I'm late... I knew I should have come back earlier, but some things happened... I tried to get back before the new moon but... I'm sorry."  
"Keh!"  
Inuyasha snorted.  
"No need to apologize. It's not like I needed you or anything..."  
"Hmm, oh really? Well it looks like you really did need some help a few moments ago."  
She said, smiling. She was used to this kind of response. Even in the dark, she could tell he slightly red.

"Sheena!"  
The two were interrupted by Colette. She flew down to the fallen girl, flipping her over. Lloyd and Zelos also swooped down, landing softly next to her.  
"Huh? Who are these people?"  
Inuyasha asked Sango, but it fell on deaf ears. Looking down at Sheena, Sango began to recognize her.  
"S-sheena?"  
She kneeled next to her.  
"Sheena, is that really you? Wake up! Sheena!"

"Alright my hunnies, stand aside and let me do my thing. It should be able to at least get her up."  
Letting Sango and Colette make some room for him, he started chanting a spell to heal Sheena. A soft green glow appeared around him.  
"I-is that magic?"  
Sango asked,

"Yeah. This takes a little while, but it'll work."  
Lloyd said.  
"He may not look it, but he can be useful once in a while too."  
Zelos had to use all his willpower to ignore Lloyd and continue the spell. All the while, Inuyasha was getting quite impatient.

"Uh hello? Who are you guys? And who is this crazy girl?"  
He asked, pointing at Sheena. Looking around, Lloyd replied,  
"Give me your name, and I'll give you mine."  
"What?! Why you little..."  
Inuyasha's temper flared up again. He looked slightly less menacing without his fangs, but his teeth were still barred fiercely. Sango stood up, getting in their way.  
"Okay, okay, I'll explain everything to you later Inuyasha."  
"Inuyasha? That's Inuyasha?"  
Colette asked, looking slightly disappointed. Her index fingers poked each other.  
"But I thought… He had… Cute… Doggy ears…"  
She mumbled.  
"He's Inuyasha? Wow, I thought he'd look kind of... Stronger..."  
Lloyd also looked a bit disappointed. Naturally, Inuyasha was severely offended.  
"You bastard, are you trying to pick a fight?!"  
"Okay, okay. Cut it out, both of you. Inuyasha's not exactly himself today, since, like I told you, he loses his powers every new moon."  
Sango explained.  
"Keh... You know Sango, you're not really supposed to announce an ally's weakness to the world."  
He snorted.  
"Healing wind!"  
Zelos had finished the spell, and a soft, green wind enveloped Sheena, healing most of her minor cuts and bruises. The large one on her stomach still didn't seem to be fully healed.  
"Nnh..."  
She groaned as her eyes slowly opened. Sango kneeled at her side again.

"Sheena! Sheena it's me, Sango. Do you recognize me?"  
Sheena suddenly felt a lot better than she had been. Her injuries didn't hurt as much, and she felt a little more energetic. When her eyes adjusted to the dark again, she could see that her friends were watching over her. Hearing her voice, she looked over at Sango.  
"S-sango?"  
She asked tentatively. Sango replied,

"Yes Sheena, it's me! Sango!"  
She rubbed her eyes, sitting up. This had to be some kind of illusion, right? She looked at the girl one more time. She could recognize the demon slayer suit that she wore... and the giant weapon she had on her back. But her face looked different. She had much softer features than she used to have, but looking closely, she finally recognized her old friend.

"S-Sango! It's you! It's really you!"

Her face brightened up, and she embraced Sango.  
"You were safe!"

"Yes, yes. I'm fine. Sheena, what happened?"  
Sango asked, a concerned look on her face.  
"As tear jerking as this reunion is, can we do the talking a bit later? I'm exhausted... Because of the lack of mana, my magic's weakened... Not to mention it's more tiring and takes longer to do."  
Zelos interrupted. Nodding, Sango asked,  
"Inuyasha, where are the others? Have they set up camp somewhere?"  
"Y-yeah. They're not too far off..."  
He replied. All of this was quite confusing to him. The strange magic almost completely healing the crazy girl in a matter of minutes? Mana? Sango knowing this crazy girl? These strange people with wings? He began to wonder if he even wanted to know what was going on.  
"Can you lead us there? We've been flying almost all day, and I'm guessing we could all use some food and rest."

Sango said as she helped Sheena get on Kirara's back.  
"Alright."  
He said, leading the way.

* * *

"_Ugh…"  
Inuyasha groaned, trying to sit up. He was in pain all over. Opening his eyes, and squinting because of the brightness, he realized that his head was resting on something soft and warm.  
'Kagome? No... She left for her time... Then who...'  
He then remembered the last thing he heard before he lost consciousness. Squinting, he realized that it was, in fact, Sango and that his head was resting on her lap. Surprised, he quickly tried to get up only to be harshly reminded that his wounds were still quite severe, and that he was still a human. Hissing, he fell back down. This woke Sango, who rubbed her eyes, yawning. When she realized that Inuyasha was awake, a faint smile appeared on her lips. _

"_Inuyasha, you're finally awake! I was pretty worried back there..."_

_From the circles under her eyes, Inuyasha could tell that she had been awake for some time before she fell asleep. He could also see that she was still in her suit, and that parts of it were torn and bloody. _

"_What, you couldn't kill that lowly demon without getting hurt?"  
Laughing, she responded,  
"Well, I did a lot better than you, didn't I? I managed to get a shard, too."  
__She pulled out a small pink sliver of the shikon jewel from a little pouch. Inuyasha looked to see how bad his wounds were, only to see that they were all neatly dressed with bandages and herbs._

"_So why are you here Sango?"  
Frowning slightly, Sango responded  
"You know, that kind of hurts. Am I not supposed to be here?"  
Inuyasha shook his head.  
"Keh! You know full well what I mean. You said you'd be back in three days, and you only took one. That means you probably didn't even make it to your village. Did something happen?"  
Still frowning, she replied.  
"It's the night of the new moon. I only realized that when I almost reached the village, so I came back to stay with you just in case. Where are the others?"  
"Kagome had to go back to her time, and Miroku had to go see his master."  
He said. Shaking her head, Sango sounded slightly annoyed,  
"Well that's pretty inconsiderate of them... None of them knew that tonight was the night?"  
"No, only you came. I'm glad you did, though. I was in quite a pinch back there. T-thanks..."  
Inuyasha said, closing his eyes. He missed Sango's deep blush._

* * *

The group had walked around five minutes, and they finally reached a small, dying fire with three people sleeping around it.  
"Oi, wake up. Sango's back."  
Inuyasha said, prodding Kagome and Miroku awake.  
"And she's brought company..."

* * *

So how was it? Please leave some feedback. I really would love some more!


	16. Chapter 16

Hello everyone! Happy new year! I've realized that this fic has recently passed it's FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! Now, I don't know whether that's a good or bad thing, seeing as how in my mind, the plot has... Almost... reached only the halfway point. Anyways, I rather enjoy writing this fic (I think the idea is quite unique...), and hope some people out there are reading and enjoying it as well. I may have lost my interest in Inuyasha, but I'm finding it hard to lose interest in this story!

So here's another chapter for you guys!

* * *

Dinner was eaten cautiously eaten in dead silence. There was a lot to be said from both sides, but food always came first. It was a good thing Kagome had recently made the trip back to her time, and brought food. The sandwiches she made were gladly accepted by all. The rekindled fire burned noisily, providing enough light to allow the two groups to get a glimpse of each other's faces. Subconsciously, they sat in two nearly straight lines, facing each other.

Kagome and Miroku felt the tension between Inuyasha and the other group, and decided to stay quiet about the matter. Inuyasha's group didn't exactly feel hungry, having eaten just a few hours ago, but they each nibbled on a piece of their sandwiches, using it as an excuse to escape awkward conversation. Sango and Sheena bridged the gap between the two lines, excitedly catching up with each other in near whispers. Inuyasha eyed Sheena suspiciously whenever he got the chance.

"What's going on, Sango? I was at your village about a week ago, and there was nothing but graves!"  
Sheena said, taking large bites out of her sandwich; she had forgotten how hungry she was.  
"Yes, Sheena, the village was destroyed some time ago..."  
Sango responded sadly,  
"It was destroyed by a demon called..."  
"I heard it was Inuyasha!"  
Sheena hissed, and Inuyasha finally interrupted in a loud voice,  
"Hey, I can still hear my name being said even with these useless ears, you know!"  
"Quiet, you!"  
Sheena snapped, glaring fiercely at him through the dim light.  
"What? You're the one talking behind my back you little-"  
"Inuyasha!"  
Sango cut in, shooting him a look. With a grunt, he backed down.  
"I think there's been a big misunderstanding. Inuyasha was not the one who destroyed my village."  
"Then who...? And how do you know my friends?"  
Sheena asked, becoming frustrated with the pace of the conversation. There were so many questions.

"Well, I already told your friends our story, but I guess I can fill you in."  
Sango retold what she had told Lloyd, Colette and Zelos, about Naraku, about Inuyasha, about the jewel, everything. Sheena listened intently, eyes slowly sinking into the fire, embarrassed, as Sango cleared up her misunderstanding.

* * *

"So now, we're trying to find Naraku, and stop him. Your friends said they were also looking for him when I met them a few days ago, so I was leading them here to meet Inuyasha."

"You've seen their abilities first hand, and you can feel that they are quite powerful."  
Inuyasha simply snorted. Sango looked over to Lloyd.  
"Well, that's one half done. Would you mind finishing up, Lloyd?"  
She asked, and he nodded. Without a doubt, his story was the more bizarre one, speaking of strange technology and different worlds. It was quite late in the night, but with the exception of Shippo, everyone listened intently. When Lloyd was finished, there were a few raised eyebrows.  
"So you're saying the world was about to end that day the sky turned purple?"  
Miroku inquired. Lloyd nodded.  
"Yeah, if we couldn't stop Mithos, I'm sure the world wouldn't be as we know it."  
There was some heavy silence at that moment, as Lloyd's group reflected on the painful memory of their friend, and Inuyasha's group struggled to absorb the information. Lloyd finally spoke after some time. The fire was losing it's struggle to stay lit for the second time.  
"We heard about Naraku only a few days ago. We were going to look for him too, but we didn't know where to start. You know these lands pretty well, right? Do you think we could work together?"  
He asked. Everyone seemed to look over at Inuyasha.

"Huh? What you all staring at me for?"  
He asked, noticing the eyes on him.  
"What?!"  
Inuyasha exclaimed,  
"You wanted these guys to join us?!"

"Yes."  
Sango replied matter-of-factly.

"I guess it's up to you to choose whether they can come with us or not, Inuyasha."  
Kagome said, she felt that these people were nice enough.

"Keh! Well... As long as they don't drag us down... They don't look too strong to me though."  
He snorted, crossing his arms.  
"Hey, what'd you say?"  
Ignoring Lloyd, Inuyasha continued,  
"Is the crazy girl who tried to kill me coming too?"  
"H-hey!"  
Sheena stuttered, unable to speak. She was feeling quite guilty and embarrassed for attacking him without fully knowing what was going on. She was thankful for the darkness, covering her easily visible blush.

"So! This is a great time to get the names straight!"  
Zelos suddenly said, cheerfully standing up and dusting himself off.  
"To start off, I'm the great, elegant Zelos Wilder, chosen of the old Tethe'alla, these two are my hunnies, Colette and Sheena, and this is my good buddy Lloyd. You must the beautiful priestess from the future I've heard so much about! Kagome, right?"

Zelos asked, taking a seat beside her. Confused, Kagome replied,  
"Uh, yes? And my other friends..."  
"Ahh, whatever, Mutt, brat and 'hey you' will do. Your name is the only thing I need in this world."

"What the hell's with this guy?"  
Inuyasha asked Lloyd, answered only by a sigh.

"Oh yes, I forgot, Zelos seems to possess similar characteristics to a certain monk..."  
Sango implied, glancing at Miroku.  
"What? Me? No way, there's no way!"  
He said, shaking his head violently. He was honestly quite offended, as he held back the urge to give his usual proposal to the angelic blonde beauty who sat beside Lloyd, as he found it to be an 'inappropriate time.' Ignoring this, Zelos continued,  
"So, my sweet Kagome, what should I give you as your nickname?"

"Umm... Just Kagome's fine."  
She replied, taken aback. Inuyasha finally intervened. Impatiently, he said,  
"Hey, whatever your name is, cut it out before I kill you."  
"Inuyasha! Be nice!"  
Kagome said, a blush on her face.

"Oooh, how scary."  
Zelos taunted.  
"Perhaps we should just drop this and continue tomorrow."  
Miroku said, pointing at Sheena, who dozed off next to Sango, who gave her the blanket and pillow she used. Healing magic couldn't ever heal fatigue. Standing, Sango stretched.  
"I'll keep watch tonight, everyone try to get some sleep."

* * *

When Sango returned from her short trip in search for more firewood, she found everyone to be fast asleep. It had been a long day. Smiling, she set the wood down beside the fire, rekindling it. When the fire was burning brightly again, she noticed that Inuyasha was not around. She scanned the tree branches high above, and sure enough, he was on a branch nearby. His eyes were locked on the sky, as usual on the night of the new moon. Just as his eyes were fixed, her eyes could not be diverted from him. She could only faintly make out his face from the light of the fire too far to illuminate more. She nearly jumped when he suddenly spoke.  
"You just going to stare at me all night?"  
He asked, his voice was quiet, yet retained his always irritated tone. She blushed he she realized that he hadn't been looking at the sky; he was looking right back at her.  
"A-aren't you going to get any sleep?"  
She asked; she knew what the answer was going to be.  
"Keh! As if I'd sleep tonight."  
"I guess we're both keeping watch then. Mind if I sit with you?"  
She asked. Inuyasha snorted in reply.  
"Do whatever you want..."

Making her way up to the branch next to Inuyasha, she noticed Kirara already curled up, sleeping on it. With a smile, she picked up the softly mewling demon, placing her gently on her lap.  
'Fell asleep saving my spot did you?'  
She thought, stroking her soft fur. Inuyasha and Sango soon chatted about various things, mainly Sheena.  
"She's definitely not a bad person, you know. She was one of my closest friends as children."  
"Well, she's turned out to be a fine adult, hasn't she? You know, trying to kill someone without knowing anything and all."  
"She told you, it was a misunderstanding! She got some bad information! Was that so different from me when we first met?"  
"That... Was different."  
"How?"

* * *

"Sango, thanks for earlier..."  
It was clear now that Inuyasha wasn't looking at her anymore after this sudden outburst; his head was turned in the opposite direction from her. Stealing a glance, she giggled silently. She decided to tease him a bit.  
"For what, Inuyasha? I didn't do much. It looked like you had things under control."  
"You know exactly what I'm talking about. For coming back and all."  
"And rescuing you?"  
"Keh! Don't make my have to spell it out for you!"  
He replied, crossing his arms. Laughing again, Sango, said,  
"You don't need to thank me, that's what friends do."

With a sigh, Inuyasha looked down at his clawless hands.  
"I hate this human body because I find it weak, but... I'm beginning to realize maybe it's me that's weak..."  
Sango's eyes widened. Inuyasha? Weak? Such a thought had never crossed her mind.  
"What are you talking about Inuyasha? You're one of the strongest people I know--"  
"When I'm in my regular form, but none of that matters if I'm killed on a night like this, right?"  
Sango was at a loss for words.  
"I always blame my human side for my weakness, but when I look at you, I realize humans can be strong too..."  
His gaze shifted straight into her eyes. Sango shifted uncomfortably on her branch next to his.

"Well, it's the second time you saved me while I'm in this form..."  
This was another surprise to Sango.  
"Second time? You remember the last time?"  
She asked. Inuyasha turned to face her now.

"It's weird. All I could think about during that whole thing with your crazy friend, was that time, and about you."  
Sango could feel the blood rushing to her face. He was being strangely honest, and it was frankly quite embarrassing.  
"W-what are you saying? It wasn't that big of a deal..."

"I-I'm just trying to say that I respect your strength alright?"  
Inuyasha said, realizing what he said. Sango couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed.

'I'm just another ally after all...'  
She thought, but after a long silence, Inuyasha spoke again.

"But I guess I also like other things about you."  
Sango's blush deepened. This was quite a strange night. She looked up into Inuyasha's eyes and froze. She found him looking straight back at her with eyes she's never seen before. His dark eyes were full of clouded emotions.

"Like what?"  
She suddenly asked, not feeling quite like herself. Everything around her felt so surreal and clouded when she was looking straight into his deep clear orbs.  
"The way you're always looking out for me... Your kindness..."  
He replied softly, she could hardly believe such words were coming out of Inuyasha's mouth, yet ignorance was bliss. She could feel her heart racing as she moved closer to him to hear and see better; the fire was beginning to die out again. She could no longer even look away in embarrassment; she was under some spell which fixed her eyes to his as he spoke, gradually in mumbles.

"Tell me more..."  
She whispered.

"Your eyes..."  
She could finally hear him clearly now. She could also see his eyes clearly glistening from the dying flames far away. They were bright yet so mystifyingly dark at the same time. She leaned more to get an even better look at this wonder.

"Your lips..."  
She felt something soft on her lips which caused her to break her eye contact, and close her eyes in reflex. Her body wouldn't allow her to pull back to see what it was, but she felt a warmth that spread from her lips into her body like fire. Her mind was completely taken over by this burning sensation, as she leaned forward even further, pressing her lips against it with a sharp inhale. Something about this felt so right; as if it was a feeling she had longed for.

After what felt like an eternity, everything came crashing down in an instant. Her eyes shot open, and the spell was shattered completely. She jerked backwards, gasping for air. She could see Inuyasha was doing the exact same thing, with wide eyes. She didn't know where to look; no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get her eyes to move back to his, and her hands became glued to her burning cheeks. What just happened? What was she doing? She didn't even realize Kirara had moved off her lap into a spot beside her. She seriously wanted to find a place to hide.  
"Inuyasha, w-why..."  
She stammered, unable to form any more words.  
"S-sango, I..."  
Inuyasha was just as speechless; everything happened so quickly without any warning. Did he just kiss Sango without realizing it? The whole situation seemed so bizarre. Regaining his composure, he waited for Sango to do something. Anything. He honestly couldn't think of anything to say.

After a few shallow breaths, their bodies moved in unison. Nothing further was said; words were no longer necessary. The embarrassment melted away for a moment, and their arms wrapped around each other tightly, their lips meeting once more. Sango could feel the same feeling as earlier but it was much stronger this time as she realized that it was Inuyasha her lips were feeling.

When they finally parted once more, their arms were reluctant to let go. Sango noticed the sun had begun to rise, and that Inuyasha was already back into his normal form. His bright silver hair had returned along with his fiery amber eyes. In the newly formed light, they remained still, looking into each other's eyes; neither pair no longer feared the other. A single tear escaped from one of Sango's eyes, rolling down her cheek. This definitely was a feeling she had longed for, yet she knew something like this could never actually ever happen. She must have been dreaming.

* * *

Down at the camp, there was an uncomfortable shift. Kagome rolled over in her sleeping bag, unable to watch anymore. Feelings stirred inside her, yet she couldn't pinpoint the exact feeling she was experiencing. She closed her eyes, pretending to sleep. She certainly didn't want to be the first one to get up.

* * *

My goodness I'm still an Inuyasha/Sango fan. Whaddya know. Anyways, I hoped you liked this update, but deep down, I know it will upset a big part of the community. (Namely the canon pairing fans. Yikes!) Please continue to read, as there are many things I want to do with this fic, and PLEASE for the love of god, review! It really helps me continue! Please! Happy new year again!


	17. Chapter 17

Hm, I seem to have a tendency to update in clumps, don't I? It seems that there were quite a few people who read my last chapter, but I've received barely any reviews. Was it so repulsive you couldn't finish it? I'd like to know. Was it so great that you read it again, and forgot to review? I'd love to know that too! You can review now if you'd like! Just please, let me know what you thought of it. It is quite important to me, as I am still unsure of the pace I'm moving at. For the reviews that WERE left, thank you very much! They're very helpful! ANYWAYS, here's another chapter for you all!

* * *

"Raaainee, we're never going to catch up with Lloyd and the others if we keep sticking around here!"

A little boy with silver hair whined. He sat legs dangling on an elevated wooden floor, idly playing with his toy that doubled as a weapon, before a grand building. It seemed to be the home of a noble at one point, but it was difficult to tell. There seemed to be absolutely no trace of anyone ever having lived there. The woman the boy was speaking to shuffled back and forth between various points of 'interest'.

"You said you'd only be a minute, and it's been nearly two days! This place gives me the creeps."  
The boy yawned.

'Hm... There is a strange sort of mana surrounding this whole place, but I can't seem to figure it out...'  
The woman thought. The past few days, her staff had been reacting strangely to the mana in various levels; she could feel the strange mana transferring to her arm. Sometimes, it would even be painful.  
'It's like there was an aura of some sort in this place some time ago. I have a bad feeling about this place, it's strange that it would be so deserte--'

"Raaaaaaiiine, I'm booooored, can we please leave now?"

SMACK!

It was rare to have her train of thought disrupted, but her little brother was being quite insufferable. A nice older-sisterly beating always did the trick.  
"Oww, hey, come on sis! I thought we were supposed to be looking for Lloyd!"  
The boy said, nursing his head.  
"We can look for Lloyd when I'm done my research here. Something's definitely not right..."  
She replied, despite the boy's groans of protest.

* * *

"AHHHHHH!"  
A loud shriek jerked Inuyasha and Sango out of their trance. Their heads reflexively turned to see that it was Sheena.

SLAP!

"Argh, hey! What gives?"  
"W-what the hell is this stupid chosen doing sleeping so close to me?!"  
Of course it was Zelos with a burning handprint on his face, growing redder each moment. Sheena's face was just as red; Zelos must have snuggled up to her when she passed out the night before.  
"Heeey, come on Sheena! I thought you were my hunnie!"  
"Shut up!"  
Zelos received a matching handprint on his other cheek.

Sango was the first to move from her spot. She dropped down, walking over to Sheena.  
"Sheena, how do you feel?"  
Stretching, Sheena replied,  
"I feel much better than I did. I'm still pretty hungry though..."

The others began awaking one by one now. Kagome remained still. Lloyd and Colette were also snoozing. If Zelos hadn't been awakened so roughly, he would have been doing the same. Using their wings exhausted their mana pretty quickly, especially in these conditions. Zelos estimated that flying for two full days would cause exhaustion that would require maybe a week of rest.

"Sango, why didn't you wake one of us up to take over watch? You must be exhausted."  
Miroku said, prodding the snoring Shippo awake.  
"What'd you do by yourself all night?"  
Sango doused the remains of the fire.  
"O-oh, nothing, really... Inuyasha was awake too..."  
Nodding, Miroku replied,  
"Not surprising. It was the night of the new moon after all. Why didn't you just let him keep watch?"  
"Um, he just looked like he could have used some company..."

* * *

It was a very clear day; the blue skies were mirrored by the glasslike surface of the water. Inuyasha sat at the bank, empty bottles at his side. They were his excuse for a desire for brief solitude. Leaning forward, he could see himself looking back at him.  
'What the hell was that? What was I doing last night?'  
His thoughts were racing.  
'Why couldn't I stop myself? That was Sango! Why didn't she stop?"  
His hand cut through the still reflection, distorting it. Cupping his hand, he splashed some of the cool water on his face. It didn't help his distress.

'Dammit, how the hell am I going to... What do I say when I get back? What did all of that last night really mean...?'  
He asked himself. He then slumped back, gazing into the clear blue above, beads of water dampening his collar.  
'Did I really have feelings for her?'

All his life, he'd taught himself how to live independently, with his own strength. He never relied on anyone to save his life, yet Sango had done so twice, both on the nights he was most vulnerable. She was strong; her fighting ability was the best he'd ever seen in a human, yet she was so kind. He began to wonder: did Sango have similar feelings about him? She was practically engaged to Miroku, and he thought he himself had some sort of commitment to Kagome. Was she betraying Miroku? Was he betraying Kagome? What was going on? He ruffled his hair in frustration.

If that crazy girl hadn't tried to kill him, this probably wouldn't have happened. Thinking back though, he didn't exactly hate the feeling...

"U-Um, hey. I came to come and get you."  
Said a female voice. Inuyasha quickly sat up, turning.  
"Breakfast is ready, and your friends were wondering where you were."  
With a sigh, Inuyasha got to his feet, quickly filling the last of the bottles. It was Sheena. He remembered now, he allowed Sango's crazy friend and the other strange people to join the group. After gathering up his things, he looked at her in the light for the first time. In the darkness, he never really got a good look at her, but now he realized she didn't look half as crazy as he thought she would look. Amazed by this, he kept staring.

"W-what're you looking at?"  
She said, turning around.  
"If you're not coming, then we're going to eat without you!"

She stomped off ahead. With a smirk, Inuyasha followed behind. The girl didn't look so bad. She seemed quite outgoing, yet shy at the same time. He decided to describe her from then on as 'weird' instead of 'crazy'. An improvement by his standards.

* * *

"Kagome, are you feeling okay?"  
Shippo asked, looking up at her as he sat on her lap. With a small smile, she gave him a little pat on the head.  
"Actually, I'm not feeling too great today."  
She replied.  
"What? Are you hurt somewhere? Did you get sick?"  
She only responded with another weak smile.  
"I guess you could say I'm hurt."

Sango sat watching Kagome from a distance, as the others were busy talking to each other. Reality was beginning to sink in. At first, she was simply happy that Inuyasha returned her kiss, but now she began to question why.

* * *

Sheena suddenly stopped, finally prepared. Inuyasha stopped behind her as well, as she turned to face him.  
"What, going to ambush me now that we're away from everyone else?"  
He taunted, still smirking. Using all of her willpower, she ignored this.  
"I'm sorry I attacked you yesterday... I really didn't know... I was blinded by anger."  
"Keh! Whatever, it's not like you really did kill me."  
He started walking again, and she was the one to follow now.

"So you were looking for Sango?"  
"Yeah. We were childhood friends, and after I saw the slayer village, I thought she was killed."  
"So you wanted revenge. That sounds pretty familiar."  
"Huh?"  
"She was out to kill me too when we first met for the exact same reason."  
"Why?"  
"Because that bastard Naraku destroyed her village, and killed her family on a mission he set up. Everyone but Sango was killed, but she was badly hurt. He tried to get her to kill me by giving her a shard, and telling her that I destroyed her village. Those lies probably spread through rumours, and were never cleared up."

Sheena stopped again.  
"That's... terrible..."  
She said,  
"That's how that bastard is. Sango isn't the only victim, so we have find him and take him down before more people are hurt."  
Inuyasha bitterly remembered how he himself was deceived by Naraku, and caused Kikyo's death, and his imprisonment to the tree.

"Well, then, since we'll be travelling together, I guess there's no hard feelings?"  
Sheena finally said with a smile. He was a good person after all.

"Keh!"  
Inuyasha snorted, starting to walk again.

"We'll see about that if this damn wound ever heals up."

His hand went to his shoulder, still recovering from the poison wound.  
"You're pretty strong, you know?"

"What're you talking about? I didn't even scratch you yesterday."  
Sheena replied, slightly nervous. Inuyasha looked back at her over his other shoulder.

"That wasn't the first time you attacked me, was it?"  
He asked, as they finally reached the others. As he joined up with them, dropping the water bottles in a pile, Sheena was frozen dead in her tracks.

'Shit... He knows!'

* * *

Ooooh, well. That is another chapter for you guys. As always, thanks for reading, and please review!


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